Lily's heartache
by Briee
Summary: Lily hates James, while he loves her. But what happends when the two have to work together and Lily ends up falling for James? Being Retyped! [COMPLETE]
1. Friends, Reunion and a kiss?

Chapter 1 Friends, Reunions and a Kiss?

Lily Evans was preparing to leave for her 7th and final year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. And, as in every year that had passed, she was determined not to let the arrogant James Potter embarrass or ridicule her.

She was determined to stay away from him, but he was persistent. Ever since third year, in which Lily had slapped James numerous times, he would ask her out, claiming that one day she would give in to his charm and "good-looks". He was cocky, he was rude, he was obnoxious, he was childish and he was everything Lily hated.

But, it seemed to Lily that her fate -- to be hounded by James Potter for the rest of her life -- was sealed the day they met...

----

_On the train, Lily's first trip to Hogwarts, she was walking towards a compartment, her head down, when she collided with another girl. The girl had dark hair and even darker eyes. _

"_What are you looking at, Mudblood?" sneered the girl._

"_Excuse me?" Lily asked, unsure what a mudblood was, but guessing it was probably an insult. _

_The girl's friends laughed "Oh, so you're a Mudblood and deaf?" She raised her wand, but just as she was about to throw a curse at Lily, a bespectacled boy jumped out from one of the compartments, followed by a companion. _

"_Are you okay?" the bespectacled boy asked her. Lily nodded, not quite sure if she should speak._

"_Bella, don't! James, watch–" but before the other boy could finish his sentence, Bella threw a curse at Lily and James. Before James could react, the curse hit them both, and then everything when black for Lily._

_When she woke up, James was staring at her with an odd smile on his lips. Lily, afraid that this boy would try to hurt her, got up quickly and left. _

----

Lily sighed at the memory and realized she was smiling. She then thought that if that incident had not happened, she might not have met her best friend, Kay Spooner.

----

_No sooner had she rushed out of the compartment, then she collided with another girl. This one seemed nicer, and had short brown hair with blue eyes. The girl introduced herself as Kay Spooner, and invited Lily to sit in her compartment. Lily readily agreed, not wanting to bump into that Bella girl and her friends again, or even that James boy and his friend._

_Kay and Lily talked all the way to the castle and found out they had much in common. Kay admitted that she didn't know who Bella or James where, but that they would find out at the Sorting later on that night. _

_When the Sorting came and Lily found herself in the same house as Kay,Gryffindor, she was overjoyed, but also angry that James Potter and his friend Sirius Black were also in the house. That incident on the train set off a series of other situations that Lily was quite embarrassed about--_

----

She realized she was smiling again and groaned. "Why does he make me do that!" cried Lily. Her sister, Petunia, came in the room with a evil grin upon her face. Petunia had not been nice to Lily since she found out that her sister was a witch.

"Oh, Lily has a cru-ush!" she said, in a sing-song voice. Lily glared at her sister. Petunia was tall and very skinny, with brown hair and eyes. Lily was the total opposite of her sister. She had flaming read hair, green eyes and a curvy body. Most people didn't even believe they were related at all, which suited both sisters very well..

"Go away," said Lily to her sister.

"So you can daydream about your boyfriend? No way!" said her sister. "'Oh, why does he make me do that?'" her sister mocked.

"Leave!" bellowed Lily.

"Fine! But Mum wants you down in 5 minutes," said her sister, leaving the room. Lily rolled her eyes and finished packing.

The car ride seemed to take forever. Lily could not wait to see her best friends again. When the family finally got to the railway station, they hurried over to platforms 9 and 10. They went though the secret barrier and saw the Hogwarts Express right in front of them. Lily and her parents always loved the train, but Petunia hated anything magic-related.

As Lily was hugging her parents good-bye, some one tapped her on the shoulder. Expecting it to be Kay, or Alice Lachalle , her other best friend, she turned around smiling. Her smile quickly turned into a frown.

In front of her was standing the man she loathed. James Potter. His black hair had gotten a little longer since the last time she saw him. His brown eyes were staring at her. He had a smile on his face but Lily groaned.

"Potter! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Now Evans! Why must you ask a silly question like that! I'm here to complete my education!" he said, in his deep voice. Lily rolled her eyes.

Behind her, Petunia let out a squeal. "This is the person..." she started to say, but Lily cut her off.

"I'm only going to warn you once. Do not ask me out this year! Got it?" she said.

"Now, now Lily! Let the gentleman speak! Hello, my name is Laura Evans. And you are..." her mother said, holding out her hand. James shook her hand.

"Hello Mrs. Evans. My name is James Potter. I see now were Lily gets her ravishing red hair," he said, making Mrs. Evans blush, "but she must get her dazzling green eyes from her father. James Potter, nice to meet you!"

"Doug Evans. Nice to meet you, James. This is our other daughter, Petunia," he added.

Petunia nodded, and looked around. Lily could tell she would rather be anywhere but there. "Potter, please leave now," Lily told him.

"But my friends aren't here yet! Plus, I think I'll stay here. It seems to be where all the pretty girls are," he said with a small wink. She tried to push him away, but those Quidditch practices made him too strong. She found herself thinking that his muscular body was oddly attractive.

"_NO! Stop thinking about his hot, muscular... AHHH! STOP!_' she thought. James said something but Lily did not hear him.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!" Lily suddenly screamed. James had picked her up and slung her over his shoulders. He said good-bye to the Evans's. Lily was trying to kick him, but his grip was too strong. "Put me down!' she told him.

"Not a chance, Evans!" and with that, he carried her onto the train As they passed, many students glanced at the funny sight before them.

-----

James found an empty compartment and put Lily down. He closed the door. "Before you storm off," he told her, "I want to talk." Lily looked at James with narrowed eyes. "_Don't mess this up Prongs," _he told himself.

"Look, Evans. This year, I promise I'll do anything you want so that you'll go out with me. I'll change. I'll stop crumping my hair, and anything else!" he told her. She looked into his brown eyes. He looked sincere. He didn't have his famous grin on his face.

She couldn't take her eyes off of his. Butterflies crept into her stomach.

He was staring into Lily's green eyes and felt butterflies creep into his stomach. They were getting closer and closer.

"_Dear God! I'm going to kiss him!"_ thought Lily.

"_I'm finally going to kiss the girl of my dreams!"_ thought James. Right before their lips touched, 3 people came into the compartment.

"Are we interrupting something?" said a voice.

**Author's note: So this is the first chapter of my story. I hope you like it! **

**A/n 2: Being retyped, with the help of my beta CharlesTheBold. All the other chapters will be retyped as well.**


	2. The Train Ride

Chapter 2 The Train ride

James and Lily both looked up. "Sirius!" groaned James.

Sirius Black, the one who had spoken, was James' best friend since the first day of school. He had black hair to his shoulders, and dark brown eyes that looked almost black. He was just a bit taller than James.

Behind him was Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. . Remus had short brown hair and blue eyes. He was just a bit shorter than his other friends. Peter had short dark blond hair and brown beady eyes.

"For once, it seems as if Prongs doesn't want to see us!" said Sirius to his two friends behind him.

Lily blushed madly. "I was in the middle of a, ahem, private conversation with Evans here," said James, waving his hand towards Lily.

Sirius sighed. "Here I was all happy to see you and you don't want to see me," said Sirius in a mock hurtful tone. James shrugged.

Lily looked at her watch. "I'd better go," she told James, and she left the compartment.

"Evans! Wait!" said James, running after her.

"What?" she said, turning around.

"Let me escort you to the Prefect carriage," said James.

"How did you know..." she said.

"Your badge," he said, pointing to it.

Lily smiled. "Okay," she said. "Here it is. I wonder who the Head Boy is." Lily entered the compartment and James followed.

"What are you doing, Potter?" said Lily. "You're not supposed to come in."

James smiled, and took out something from his jeans pocket. "No...no... NO!" yelled Lily looking at the badge. James was Head Boy. "You're, you..." she said, lost for words.

"What? I didn't tell you I'm Head Boy?" said James. Lily screamed. A bunch of frightened 5th year prefects came in. They looked at Lily. Lily blushed furiously and sat down with her arms crossed.

After every one came in, Lily calmed down and talked to them about their duties as prefects. James just started at her. "God, she's beautiful," he thought.

"Potter! Anything you have to add?" snapped Lily.

"Um... be careful and mind the vanishing step on the 5th floor stair case," he said. Lily sighed.

----

"Kay! I almost kissed him! How could I?" said Lily, almost crying. Kay had grown over the summer. Her brown hair was now waist-length and had a million tiny braids. She had gone to Jamaica for the summer holidays.

"It's simple. You fancy him as much as he fancies you!" said Kay with a grin on her face.

"You almost kissed who?" asked Alice, coming into the compartment. Alice had beautiful blond hair and blue eyes. Her hair was elbow length and had it in a French braid.

"Potter!" said Kay, happily. Alice stared open-mouthed at her friend.

"Lily, is this true?" Alice said, sitting next to Kay. Lily sighed and nodded. Alice squealed. "Lily loves James!"

"I do not!" said Lily, blushing.

"First two signs, blushing and denying," said Kay. Lily groaned.

"'Lily Potter', nice," said Alice.

"Shut up!"

----

"Hey, mates! I almost kissed the girl of my dreams, but she got away!" said James, putting his head in his hands.

"C'mon Prongs! There are lots of girls who would love to be snogging you. Get one of them!" said Sirius.

Remus sighed. "Padfoot, my friend, do not advise James to be like you. You would snog anything with a chest bigger than yours." Sirius looked offended.

"Well, I don't see you with a girlfriend!" snapped Sirius.

Remus smiled. "You will soon."

Sirius was not expecting this. "How?"

"Well, I plan on actually asking a girl out, instead of being like you and snogging her till you're tired of her." said Remus, calmly. James wasn't paying attention to their conversation. The train was turning and James could see Lily's compartment.

"Wormtail, what do you think of Moony's logic?" asked Sirius.

"I... I don...don't know..." said Peter.

"Typical! He's never had so much of a second glance!" said Sirius with his bark-like laugh. Peter hung his head.

"Sirius! That was mean!" said Remus.

Sirius was still laughing. "You're right! I'm sorry, Wormtail," he said. Peter nodded.

"What about you, Prongs?" asked Sirius. A pause. "James?"

Peter laughed. "He's Lily-watching," he said pointing to the window. Sirius shook James.

"What?" he said.

"Never mind," said Sirius, smiling. James looked out the window again, but Lily was gone. James sighed and joined in their conversation.

**Author's note: Hey, I hope you guys like the story so far. Please review! Constructive criticism please (if any)! I'll try to add a chapter every time I go on the Internet! By the way, I won't be killing any of the main characters off (but I might kill a few Death Eaters and a few families that have nothing to do with the story!). This story will be mainly romance and passion. **

**Author's note 2: Being Re-typed with the help of my beta CharlesTheBold. **


	3. Warning

Chapter 3 Warning

Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table with Kay and Alice. Frank Longbottom, Alice's boyfriend, sat down next to his girl and they started to talk. Kay sighed dreamily as the four Marauders sat down a few chairs up from the girls. "You have a thing for Remus, don't you?" asked Lily.

Kay nodded and smiled. " I wish he'd ask me out, already. I know he likes me." Lily looked at her, puzzled. "I overheard him say it," she explained, blushing slightly.

"Why don't you tell him how you feel?" said Lily.

"Ha! That has about as much of a chance of you admitting you love Potter!" she said.

"Lower your voice -- I do not!" commanded Lily Kay rolled her eyes. She looked over at James. He gave her a small smile. She was determined not to give him one back, at least while Kay and Alice were there..

Professor McGonagall started with the sorting with _Abner, Frankie -Ravenclaw_- and finished with _Zymmont, Laura -Hufflepuff_. Then Professor Dumbledore took charge of the ceremonies.

"Welcome back to the older students, and Welcome to the new ones. I hope you have forgotten everything over the summer so we may refill you heads! Filch, our caretaker, has reminded me to tell you that his list of Forbidden Objects is on the notice board in each Common Room, and you are to take the prohibitions quite seriously." He glared at the James' Marauders as if to say THIS MEANS YOU.

"Also, Hagrid, our games keeper, has asked me to remind everyone that the forest is out of bounds! Most of our older students should know that by now," he added, looking at the Marauders once more.

"Now, I'm sure you're all hungry, so dig in!" he said. The food materialized, a full dish simultaneously appearing for every student. Many of the First Years gasped, just as Lily had done six years ago..

-----

After supper, the Prefects brought the First Years to the Gryffindor common room. Professor MgGonagall came with them, then turned to the pair. "You have your own rooms. Come with me. Your belongings are already there," They followed her up more stairs towards a hallway that Lily had not seen before, though apparently James had. They stopped at a painting.

"Password?" said the young man. It looked like a copy of Gainsborough's BLUE BOY, though for all Lily knew, this might be the original and the museum in London had the copy.

"Snitch," said Professor McGonagall. James smiled. A perfect password, from his point of view, though certainly not from Lily's.. Out of every possible password it had to be Snitch!.

James was going to be the Seeker this year. He used to be Chaser, but when he found out that he was a better Seeker, he immediately appointed himself to the second position. After all, he was captain and could deploy the team as he liked..

Lily and James thanked Professor McGonagall and entered.

---

The Heads' common room was circular It had a stone fireplace, matching chairs and tables to work on, cozy sofas and two ebony doors leading to their individual rooms. Unfortunately, there was only one bathroom. Lily and James made a few agreements. She would use the bath at night and he, in the morning.

Lily walked into her new room. Lily saw a beautiful queen-size four-poster bed with red covers. Golden pillows lined the top of the bed and golden curtains draped over the windows. Gold and red: the Gryffindor colors, and beautiful in their own right.

As Lily explored her new room, she found a painting. Not the animated sort that you usually found in Hogwarts, but a Muggle painting in which nothing moved. It did, however, look as if the painting itself had been moved, because it was not lined up properly. Knowing the house elves were perfectionists, and that they would never leave anything crooked, Lily took it off the wall and saw writing behind it. It was written in--...

"POTTER!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. James came running up the stairs.

"What's wrong..." he started to say but stopped in mid-sentence. "Is that... blood?" he asked, walking towards Lily.

"I- don't- don't know!" she said.

"What does it say?" said James, moving closer.

"Careful, Potter," warned Lily.

"'_Mud-bloods, beware. The dark lord will prevail._' Not very nice." asked James.

"We should tell McGonagall tomorrow," Lily said.

James thought about it. "No."

"NO!"

"I'll talk to Sirius and the others, and we'll look into it. It's probably the work of Bella and her lot; they're the ones who are always talking about MudBloods. We'll show them that we know a trick or two, and can take care of ourselves."

_Men! If I ever have a kid, I'll make sure he's a sensible boy who doesn't try to be the hero all the time._. But somehow Lily couldn't build the willpower to oppose James' plan.

"We'd better go do rounds," he said, as if everything was settled. She nodded reluctantly.

"When we settle down for the night, take my bed, Evans. I'll sleep on the sofa in the central room," he added hastily.

"Thanks, Potter," she said, and they set off to do the rounds.

----

"Timetables!" called out McGonagall the next morning after breakfast, handing them out. "Evans, Professor Dumbledore wants to see you and Potter after you eat breakfast. You have my class this morning, so don't worry about getting permission." After she told James, he and Lily got up and headed towards Dumbledore's office. James let the way for the pair, leading Lily to suspect that he had been there before, and probably not for a creditable reason..

-----

"Sit down," said Dumbledore. "I needed to tell you that -- excuse me." A knock on the door had interrupted him. Not many, student or teacher, would have the nerve to interrupt a conference. "Be right back," he told them, leaving the office. James got up and walked over to pat Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet bird.

"Is that a phoenix?" asked Lily, amazed. James nodded. "Wow, I've never seen one before. They're beautiful," she said.

"_You're even more beautiful,"_ James nearly blurted but he bit his tongue. Lily stood up and went to the phoenix's perch.

"Can I pat him?" she asked. .

"Here..." he said, taking her hand. She was about to pull away but he put her hand on Fawkes and she felt the soft feathers. Lily smiled, and went to her chair. James was talking to the phoenix.

Lily realized that she had never seen this side of James before. He was caring, civil and not acting like a complete bounder. "_Maybe he has changed_," she thought.

"_No, stop thinking that! You'll fall for his charm and go out with him!" _

"_Maybe I want to"_

"_NO!"_ Lily was arguing with herself in her head. She put her forehead in her hands. All this thinking was giving her a headache.

"You okay, Evans?" asked James.

"Fine, James," she said. _I said James, not Potter!_ Lily clapped her hands over her mouth and James looked surprised. Luckily, Dumbledore came back before Lily could embarrass herself any more.

"Now, as I was saying before, there are some things that I need to tell you. First of all, the mer-people in the lake are acting strange. They are now at the surface and are trying to hurt people. We have three students already who have been sent to the Hospital Wing since yesterday afternoon. They suffered minor injuries and will be fine. Luckily, someone was on the spot to save them. We need you two and your counterparts in the other Houses to watch out for students who go near the lake. We will warn them tonight at the feast and post messages on the message board, but some might try anyway. Lots of students don't seem to have learnt the meaning of the word Forbidden," he added, looking at James.

James and Lily nodded, the boy pretending not to have noticed the glance..

"Also, I would like to remind you to change the password for the Head's dorm about once a week. Sirius Black has caused much trouble by finding out the password in previous years," A smile crossed the old man's lips. "You are also in charge of social events for Gryffindor -- Hogsmead visits, even House dances, if you wish."

Lily and James nodded again. Dumbledore looked at them over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. "The Head Boy and Girl should partner each other," he added, making both Heads blush. "Now, off to class."

----

The next two weeks passed by quickly. Lily continued sleeping in James' bed. She had never persuaded him to go with her to McGonagall about the blood-writing, and was still reluctant to go by herself. Then, one day in that very teacher's class, events forced their hands.

James and Lily sat on adjoining benches, as was their routine. As they were writing their official class notes, Lily sent James a message.

"_Today, we'll tell McGonagall. We have to."_

James scribbled back a reply and levitated it back to Lily, but Professor McGonagall saw it.

"Evans! Potter! Are you two passing notes?" she said, calmly.

Sirius looked up and smiled. "Ohhh!" Lily was tempted to put a curse on him.

"We will talk about this after class," McGonagall said sternly, returning to her desk. James thought she saw a little twitch in the corner of her mouth.

----

"Now, Evans, please care to explain to me why in the world you and Potter were exchanging notes, said McGonagall. "Yes, I saw your original one."

"I-I-I," stuttered Lily.

"What she's trying to say is that there is something we need to show you in the Heads' dorm," said James suddenly. "Lily was spooked out and we thought you should see.".

"Fine," McGonagall said, eyeing them suspiciously and they left.

Lily gave James a smile and mouthed "Thanks.".

"It's all right. Didn't want to get you in trouble. Besides, the Marauders haven't found anything. I thought maybe it was time we did bring in the adults."

-----

"Is that blood?" asked McGonagall, looking at Lily's wall. Lily walked in and gasped. Another message had appeared. "'_Don't tell, it's the last thing you'll do_.' Do you know who wrote these?" Lily shook her head and tears swelled up in her eyes. James looked at the message.

"Another one?" he asked. McGonagall looked at him,obviously wanting to know what the first message was. He took down the painting and the other message was there, still as shiny as it had been two weeks ago.

"Have you been sleeping in here, Evans?" asked her teacher.

Lily shook her head. "I've been sleeping in Potter's room and he's been using the sofa" More tears were coming. "Excuse me," she said and rushed out of the room..

**Author's note: Okay, okay. So this chapter's not the best. But you need it for the rest of the story. **

**A/N 2: Being re-typed! **


	4. the Lake

Chapter 4 The Lake

Lily headed towards the lake. She knew she shouldn't be near it, but memories of visits in previous years were pleasant, and they comforted her. The tall thee giving shade, the lapping of the water, the squid coming up once in a while to see the students.

Then she saw the people she hated the most: Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, Severus Snape, and Lucius Malfoy. Bellatrix had been her sworn enemy since she first stepped on the train, in first year. She had been Lily's attacker.

"Get away from there," Lily yelled at them. They were enchanting things to go and hit the mer-people.

"Stupid Mudblood, don't boss us around," said Snape. His voice was musical, which didn't make the words any less ugly. "We rank higher than you. We are pure-bloods, which.---.." .

"Which does not give you the right to boss other people around. And if I'm correct, Snape, I got better marks than you in every year," said Lily. "I'll have to give you detention."

The Slytherins laughed. "Oh yes? Well, _Wingardium Leviosa!_" Snape shouted, with his wand in his hand. Lily began hovering above the ground. Then Snape flicked his wand and Lily landed in the water.

"Look, I think Lily Evans is a water lily!" screeched Bellatrix, rolling on the ground laughing. Lily was trying to get to shore, but the mer-people were seized her and held her down. She felt all the air being sucked out of her as she got dragged under the water. Suddenly, something brushed past her leg and she felt herself rising. Cold air met her face and she lost consciousness.

----

"Will she be okay?" asked a voice, which, to Lily, sounded far away.

"She will. I will patch her up quickly. She has a few scratches and a nasty bite, but otherwise, she's fine." said another voice, which Lily recognized as Poppy Pomfrey, the school nurse.

"Can we see her?" asked another voice.

"I'm sorry, she already has a visitor and asked to be left in privacy," Madam Pomfrey said. Lily could hear the disappointment in their voices.

"_A visitor?_" she thought, just realizing what the nurse had been telling her friends. She opened her eyes and James was sitting in a chair with a blanket over his shoulders. He smiled as she opened her eyes.

"You," she whispered.

"Ah, Miss Evans! You're awake. You're lucky Mr. Potter here was able to save you in time. The mer-people were about to drag you under!" Madam Pomfrey said.

James smiled. "I told you, Madam Pomfrey, call me James. I think I've been here often enough for you to call me by my Christian name, not that Evans here would even consider it," he said, winking at Lily.

"You... saved me?" she said.

"You look surprised!" he said, placing a hand to his heart in mock hurt.

"Well, I sort of am," she said, blushing.

James smiled. "After you ran out on McGonagall, We thought it might be a good idea for me to follow you, for safety reasons," he said.

"I'm glad you did," she said, then fell back asleep.

----

She woke up in the middle of the night. James was sleeping on the chair. "_He must have convinced Madam Pomfrey to let him stay,_" she thought. Lily looked at him again. "_He looks kind of lovely sleeping,_" she said. Not bothering to argue with her thought, she fell back asleep.

----

"JAMES POTTER! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" said an angry voice. Lily and James woke up with a start. Kay and Alice were standing at her bedside and Kay's face was all red.

"Kay, calm down. James was the one who saved her life!" said Alice.

"Look, you woke Evans!" James said to Kay.

"Sorry," she said, turning to Lily. "Why is Potter here?"

Lily sighed. "He saved my life. I thought that if he truly wanted to be here, he could stay. After all, what are bodyguards for?" said Lily, casting a sideways glance at James.

"Oh, okay. Wait! WHAT! He's your... your ...BODYGUARD?" Kay screamed.

"Kay, if you don't shut up this second, Madam Pomfrey will throw the lot of you out!" said Lily.

"How... why... when... why?" was all that Kay could come up with.

"I think she means 'Why has James become your bodyguard?" translated Alice. "When did this happen? and I for one would also like to know why," Alice sat on Lily's bed and Kay sat down on a chair.

"Well, you see, um..." Lily started, but did not know the answer for sure. "Ask him," she said finally, pointing at James. The two girls looked at him.

"Well, um, see, can you leave us two minutes in private?" he asked. With much groaning, the girls went to the other side of the room.

"Did you tell them about the messages in blood?" he asked. Lily shook her head. "Okay, so what are we going to tell them?" he asked.

"How about, I got a letter that said that if I don't mind my mouth, I'll die?" said Lily. James looked at her.

"That sounds good, but why do you want to lie to your friends?" he said.

Lily shrugged. "I don't want them to get over protective of me, like I can't go anywhere without them. I have you for that," she smirked, "but also, them finding out I'm sleeping in your bed, even if you're not in it, would bring up some very strange questions that I don't feel like answering."

James considered the answer for a moment and nodded. He motioned for Kay and Alice to come back. "Lily got a Howler saying that she was going to get done in if she didn't mind the way she speaks. It also said that if she told someone, they would make her die an awful and excruciating painful death, and it wouldn't be traceable back to them. Lily wanted to repeat it to McGonagall, even though the original burnt up. That's why Lily and I got caught passing notes."

A look of unbelief passed over the two girls face for a second, but James dismissed it.

"We told McGonagall and she tried asking Lily about it, but Lily closed up and ran away," James continued. "McGonagall told me I should go make sure she was all right, and that and I should stick with her till it has been resolved. The teachers think they know who sent the Howler."

He and Lily were the only ones who knew the truth, but Lily's friends seemed to accept James' story. Lily had told McGonagall who threw her in, and who else was around, which resulted in their two-month long detention sentence. The only problem– they all denied any involvement in sending the threats. Lily's friends now understood why James was there and Lily, all of a sudden, did too.

---

Lily came out of Hospital Wing the next day. It was Saturday and she and James were going to work on Head Duties. Her friends had been wanting to check out the Heads Dorm but Lily and James made excuses for them not to. Dumbledore had been trying to get rid of the writing, but had been unsuccessful. The writing would reappear and anything that the headmaster hung up to try to cover it, except the painting, would instantly burst into flames. Lily did not want her friends to see it.

"Potter, tonight, if you want, I'll sleep on the sofa," said Lily, looking up from the scroll she had been writing on.

"No, no. it's okay," said James.

"But you should sleep in your bed!" said Lily.

James had a twinkle in his eye. "We could sleep together," he said. Lily got up and slapped him in the face.

"I didn't mean like that!" said James, rubbing his face. Lily raised her eyebrow. "Really!" he said. .

"I bet you've thought about it though!" she yelled at him. Of course he had, but he would never tell Lily. Lily slapped him again.

"Hey! What was that for?" he said, rubbing his already red cheek.

"For thinking about it!" she answered coldly before leaving.

---

Lily stormed into the Griffindor common room and went to the girls' shared room to find her friends, who were chatting. "Lily! You didn't tell us you were coming back today! We would have gone to get you!" said Alice.

"Well, I didn't know I was leaving today," Lily lied. "_Oh, no! I just lied to my friends again!_" she thought. Madam Pomfrey had told her the night before, and insisted that she ask someone to help her back to the Head's dorm.

"So who was the mystery visitor who was denying us the right to see our best mate?" asked Kay. "Bet it was Potter! He stalks you!"

Lily shook her head unbelievingly. "Where did you come up with him stalking me?" Lily asked.

"Aha! So you're not denying it!" said Kay, pointing her finger at Lily.

"He was not there! I don't know who it was--"

----

"Mate, telling a girl you could sleep together is..." said Remus to James. Remus was lost for words.

"Bloody awesome! I should have thought of that line!" said Sirius, grinning from ear to ear.

James sighed. "Padfoot, I didn't mean it like THAT!" said James, shaking his head.

"Sure, you didn't," said Sirius, laughing.

---

"Evans, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way," said James, that night as they patrolled the corridors.

Lily sighed. "I know. After I calmed down, I realized you're not as much of a pervert as you let on," she said.

James laughed. "I would never suggest it, unless you said it first," he told her. She stopped walking and raised her wand. "Just kidding, just kidding!" he said, raising his own hands defensively. He remembered that his face still hurt a bit. Lily and James laughed all the way to the dorm.

**Author's note: I laughed a lot when I wrote this chapter. Not when Lily fell in the lake, but James suggesting they sleep together was hilarious! Sirius thought it was funny and Remus was lost for words. Peter's not in the story very much, but you'll find out why later. Or maybe not... I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with Peter. I don't like him very much...**

**A/N: Re-typed with the help of my beta CharlesTheBold**


	5. the Fight

**Author's note: I want to thank everyone for their awesome reviews! **

**To fork-tofu-pingpong-fish: If pomland is America, then yes. I am Canadien! (By the way, I don't understand some of your writing. Like what are: "R**O**TFL" and "snags and kini's"?**

**To Sarah: I added you to my MSN list, and thanks for the review. Sorry about the spelling but I come from an French school and I need to practice my English spelling.**

**To malfoyismuboo: Thank you so much for the reviews. Don't worry, you'll request will come soon.**

**To Mooney4Mooney: I really enjoyed your two stories (Pretend Love and Quidditch sounds like fun) and I enjoy reading your reviews.**

**I also want to thank anyone else that reviewed! I love getting reviews and I hope they don't stop coming! **

Chapter 5

The fight

"WHAT?" yelled Sirius. Fortunately they were out of the library now, because a shout that loud would probably have gotten him zapped by the librarian.

"I'm not playing any more pranks on anyone, and that's final. I want to show Lily I've matured," said James, with sadness in his eyes. Playing pranks was what the Marauders did best.

"But... but... but she's just a girl!" said Sirius, not believing his best friend would give up pranking.

"I know I'll miss it, but Lily's not just a girl," said James.

"She's THE girl, yes, we know, Prongs. You've told us about one hundred times every year since first year! That's 700 times!" said Remus.

"Walking talking calculating dictionary," muttered Sirius. "Mate, you're a Marauder. We have to play pranks. Please, please, please!"

"Um... Padfoot? I think Prongs is serious," said Remus.

"Shut up!"

"James, all you do is spoon over Lily, tell us how beautiful she is, clever, caring, funny and more. Damn it! If you want her so bad, why don't you tell her all that?" yelled Sirius.

"Don't you think I tried?" yelled James back.

"Mate, you could have any girl in this school!" Sirius said, looking as if he was about to pass out. Remus was trying to break the fight, but was not unable to.

"Yeah, I know! But I want Lily, she prettier and she's cleverer! She doesn't act like I'm some sort of bloody celebrity! She acts like I'm a normal human being. Her hair and eyes are wonderful, she has a temper, and she's not afraid to use it. I love her for who she is, and not for who she pretends to be!" yelled James at the top of his lungs.

Remus and Sirius stared at him open-mouthed. "You... you lo...love her?" stuttered Sirius.

James sighed. "Yes, I do,"

"Fine! If she's more important, well, than she can be your new best friend!" said Sirius, stomping away to the Griffendor common room.

In the shadow, a woman was watching them.

---

"Lily! You'll never guess what I just overheard!" said Jasmine Rose, a fellow Gryffendor, with whom she was sharing her old dormitory. Jasmine had short black hair and brown eyes. She was dark-skinned, which created such a contrast as she flung herself on Lily's old bed, white sheets surrounding her.

"What?" said Lily, looking up from her homework. Her friends, who were doing their assignments with her in the dormitory, looked up also.

"James Potter is truly, madly, deeply in love with you!" she said. Lily stared at her, with her mouth hanging open.

"What?" said Lily, Alice and Kay, all at the same time.

"Yup! I was coming back from the library, when I heard James tell Sirius that he was not going to pull any pranks anymore because of you. Sirius snapped and yelled at him things like 'Why and what does Lily have to do with this' and James said something I couldn't hear. Then Sirius told James that he could have any girl in the school. James told Sirius that he wanted you because you were pretty and a lot of stuff like that and then he said he loves you!" said Jasmine, trying to say it in one breath.

Lily's hands covered her mouth. "_James Potter loves me?_" she thought to herself. "I've got to run!" she said. She grabbed her things and ran off to the Head's dorm.

----

"Password?" asked the Blue Boy.

"Peeves loves Myrtle!" said Lily, breathlessly. That was James' idea, of course. The painting opened and Lily rushed inside. James had spread his homework scroll on the desk. His eyes looked red.

"Have you been crying?" asked Lily.

James looked up and laughed. "No, it's from those nights on the couch," he told her.

Lily giggled. "I told you, you can have your bed back!" said Lily. She knew now why he wanted her to sleep in his bed every night. He loved her and wanted her to be happy.

"No, I'm fine. I just fell off the couch yesterday and some stupid bug bit me. I was up half the night scratching," he said with a laugh.

"Where's your bite?" asked Lily. "I know a charm that can stop the itching."

James sighed. "You really want to know?"

"As long as you don't have to take off your undies, I'm fine," she said. James laughed. He took of his shirt. Lily gasped. His chest was very muscular. _"Holy Crap!_" she thought to herself.

"Evans?" said James.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

James laughed. "I have that effect on girls."

Lily went around him to his back. The bite was very noticeable. "Potter! It's green!"

"Bloody hell, what bit me?"

"I haven't a clue. We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

---

Madam Pomfrey fixed James up right away. Even she seemed awed at his chest, though she tried to be professional and hide it. Lily and James had a good laugh at that, as they went on patrol afterwards.

"I swear Madam Pomfrey has a crush on me," said James. Lily laughed. It reminded him of the way Sirius use to say that, after James would get out of the hospital. Lily looked at him.

"What's wrong? You look sad," said Lily after a moment.

"It's nothing," James said, trying to shrug it off.

"It's about Sirius, right?" Lily asked. James shrugged it off again. "Fine, don't tell me!"

"Don't try to use that Muggle reverse psychology thing on me.".

"How do you know about that?"

"Remus," he muttered. Lily laughed. "It's not funny!" snapped James.

"You're mad at him too?"

James sighed. "Fine! I'll tell you! Sirius and I had a fight and Remus tried to stop it. Then he wouldn't pick on whose side he was on."

Lily smiled. This had been the conversation Jasmine overheard. "What was the fight about?" asked Lily, wanting James to tell her he loved her.

"Something that's really important to me and not important to them," he told her, not wanting to pour out his soul for a girl he knew did not feel the same way about him as he did for her.

Lily nodded. "Okay," she said, slightly disappointed for a second. She mentally hit herself.

"You're easier to talk to, you know," said James as he and Lily walked towards the Charms corridor.

Lily blushed slightly at the compliment. "You're easier to talk to also. My friends, if I tell them something, they come up with the same answer every single time!"

"What's that?" James inquired.

"That I... never mind," she said, blushing harder. James looked at her. She was beautiful. He wanted to kiss her so badly. But he knew they would only be friends.

----

Lily and James walked into their dorm. Sirius had fallen asleep on the sofa. "Sirius! What are you doing here? How did you get in?" yelled James.

Sirius woke up with a start. "Sorry," he muttered.

"What are you doing here?" asked James, again.

"I came to say that I'm sorry. I realize that what we argued about what important to you and it was not my place to say it wasn't. Oh, that and you should really keep the map or we'll break in here all the time!" said Sirius.

"Map?" asked Lily, looking from James to Sirius. Both were smiling.

"Only the Marauders can know," said Sirius, tossing James what looked like, to Lily, just a old piece of parchment.

"Whatever," she said. "Well, goodnight." Lily silently left towards James' room.

"By the way, Lily's sleeping in your bed?" Sirius asked, raising his brow.

"Yes. Remember when I asked you lot to help track down the intruder, and the lot of you failed."

"Yes. Partly because you wouldn't let us in to look at the evidence," Sirius said defensively.

"Well, since you're here now--" whispered James, making sure Lily couldn't hear him. He walked over to Lily's room and opened the door. Sirius looked inside.

"Bloody...!" James looked around. Another message was written. _"'You told, now die!'_" That one's new!"

Sirius frowned. "What do you want us to do?"

"Well, McGonagall has me following Lily around. But I think her friends are trying to protect her, even if they don't know the whole story," said James. Sirius looked puzzled. James told him the story of the lake.

"Someday I'm going to face off with Bella, and one of us won't survive," Sirius vowed.

"Don't tell anyone what I just told you, okay?" asked James. Sirius nodded.

"OOOOOh---" came a moan from James' room.

"What--?" said both young men in confusion.

Lily staggered into the central room, very pale. "I think I'm going to be sick!" she said, then ran to the loo.

Gesturing for Sirius to stay back and respect Lily's privacy, James followed her himself.

He put his hand on Lily's back and held up her hair.

"Thanks. I'll be out in a minute," she said, a grim smile on her face. He backed out and turned to Sirius again to talk about the message. But Lily came out a moment later, even paler than before.

"Lily, are you sure you're okay?" asked James. Before Lily could answer, she collapsed. James rushed to her side and picked her up. She felt very light in his arms. "Tell the Marauders, Sirius! I'm taking her to the hospital wing."

-----

"Dear God! What happened?" asked Madam Pomfrey, running out of the office.

"She said she was feeling ill, then collapsed!" said James, not one bit out of breath.

"Put her in a bed, quickly!" said Madam Pomfrey. She waved a wand over the girl, apparently her way of doing a diagnosis. The she rushed off and returned a minute later with a potion and a syringe. "Do you know what happened?" she asked.

James thought over the message on the wall. "_You told, now die._" came creeping into his mind.

"Lily got a death threat!" said James.

Madam Pomfrey looked puzzled. She looked at Lily's arm. "Dear lord! This child has been poisoned!" she said, holding up Lily's arm. There was a gash across her arm that was turning green and purple.

"Oh no!" whispered James.

"It's a good thing you got her here fast. Another hour and she would have died," said Madam Pomfrey, putting the potion in the syringe and injecting it in Lily's arm. James was feeling bad. He was supposed to watch out for Lily. The same person who was writing the messages must have hexed Lily while she was in James's bed. James sat down next to Lily and held her hand.

"Mr. Potter, you are quite the hero. First you save Miss Evans from the mer-people and now you saved her from the poison," said Madam Pomfrey. "She'll be asleep for a while. I suggest you get some breakfast." James nodded and went downstairs.

**Author's note: This chapter came to me in a dream. It's probably not the best I've written and it won't be the best chapter. I just thought it would be good to add it. Nothing special really. So please review! And Thank you to all those who have already reviewed!**

**A/N 2: Being re-typed with my beta CharlesTheBold**


	6. Questions and Confusion

Chapter 6 Questions and Confusion

James sat down at the Gryffindor's table and, immediately, Lily's friends rushed to sit next to him.

"Where's Lily?" asked Alice.

"We had better take this outside," he said. They walked out into the Entrance Hall.

"So?" asked Kay, folding her arms.

"She's in the Hospital," said James, grimly.

"What? Why? What did you do?" asked Kay, raising her wand, ready to fight.

"I saved her life," he told them.

"What happened?" asked Alice, pushing Kay's wand down.

"Poison," whispered James. Kay and Alice looked at James with wide eyes.

"How did that happen! You are her bodyguard!" yelled Kay.

"Keep your voice down!" James hissed, as a few scared looking first-years walked by. "She got another message, it said that since she told someone she's going to die. I think it came whilst we were sleeping." he said.

"But how?" asked Alice, fearfully.

"Well, I fell asleep on the sofa and I didn't hear anything, but we have balconies in our rooms. I I think someone took a broom, flew up, and poisoned Lily," he said, quietly.

"We have to go see her," said Kay.

"She's sleeping right now, but we should make sure whoever poisoned her will not come back to finish the job," he said. The three of them went to Hospital Wing.

----

They agreed to take turns to watch Lily. James would take the morning, Kay the afternoon and Alice, that night. James sat next to Lily's bed and held her hands. They were warm. He looked at her and her face was still pale. He noticed that she seemed at peace. _"Don't die on me Lily,"_ he thought. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back so softly, James wasn't sure it was real. Her eyes started to flutter and she opened them.

"James..."

He put a finger on her mouth. "Don't talk. I'll be here all morning," he said to her. She smiled weakly and fell back asleep.

When Alice came in for her shift, James knew exactly where he needed to go. He was power-walking all the way to Dumbledore's office, ready to rant and rave to get rid of his extra anger. He hastily said the password and climbed the steps. James barely had time to knock on the door before the professor's voice rang out. "Come in."

"Professor, I--"

"I know why you are here, Mr. Potter, and quite frankly, I am ashamed of myself. I thought that by putting some security on Miss Evans' balcony, that yours also would be safe. Alas, I fear that I was wrong."

Most of James' anger faded, leaving behind the terrible feeling of guilt. Of course Dumbledore and the other teachers would have set up some sort of security. He was stupid to think otherwise.

"Unfortunately, this means that Miss Evans and yourself must move back in your old Dormitories, thought I doubt either of you will mind. Just for the weekend, so that the other professors and I can put extra protections on your rooms. And maybe get rid of that horrible writing."

---

When Lily woke up and saw Alice looking at her. "Thank god!" she heard Alice whisper. "James told us you woke up, but you didn't afterwards. We were so scared," said Alice, tears in her eyes.

"Don't... cry," Lily said with difficulty.

"James saved your life, you know. That's twice."

Lily smiled. "I know." She fell back asleep.

----

Lily was released from the Hospital Wing a few days later. She went to supper and ate hungrily. James sat down next to her. "Save some for Sirius. I swear he could eat enough to feed the world!" said James. Lily laughed. "So, how are you feeling?"

"For the hundredth time today, I'm fine but the poison hurt my leg. I just have to watch how I walk. Also, I'm supposed to drink a potion before I go to bed and when I wake up," said Lily, smiling. James had been amazing at cheering her up and Sirius had helped. "You already know all this!"

"Just making sure you don't forget," he said with a wink.

As Lily walked back up to the common room, Kay came up to her. "Hey, the next Hogsmeade trip is this Sunday. Do you want to hang with me and Alice?" she asked.

"Sure, whatever," said Lily, absent-mindedly. She kept seeing James smile on her face when she had woken up. _"I'm not falling for James," _

"_Well, you just called him James" _

"_Shut up!" _

"_You dream of him every night! I should know. I'm your conscience!" _

"_No stop it!" _

"_YOU LOVE HIM!" _

"_NO!" _Lily argued with herself in her head.

"Hullo, Lily!" said Kay, waving her hand in front of Lily's eyes.

"What?" asked Lily, snapping back to reality. Alice came up behind them.

"Lily has a case of..." Alice started, but Lily cut her off.

"Don't you dare say I have Potter on the brain," hissed Lily.

"Did I hear my name?" asked James, coming in behind Lily.

"NO YOU DIDN'T! MIND YOU OWN BUSINESS!" yelled Lily, then she ran upstairs to her old bed in the shared dorm. Kay and Alice ran up after her.

----

"What went wrong?" asked James, as he sat down next to Remus. Peter and Sirius were probably in the kitchen stuffing their faces. Remus looked up from his scroll and sighed.

"What happened?"

James told Remus what had happened. "One minute, she laughs at what I'm saying, and the next, she snaps at me and starts crying!" said James, putting his head in his hands.

"Prongs, think of it from her point of view. It's been twice now that someone has tried to kill her. She wants to feel better but feels bad that you have to save her every time! And, to top it all off, no one knows what happened!" said Remus.

James sighed. "You're right. So what should I do?"

"Be her friend. Choose your words carefully. Don't make her mad," the other boy advised.

"Thanks," James said. "You know, you should write a book on how the female mind works. You do have like 4 sisters."

---

Lily was crying in her pillow. Out of everyone here, why did it have to be her friends trying to convince her she was in love with Potter? She knew she shouldn't be mad at them. They wanted her to be happy. That was it. They thought she would be happy with Potter. Lily heard her two friends come and sit down on the bed. "Go away," she said, into her pillow.

"No. We are not going anywhere," said Kay.

"Lily, I was only going to say that you have a case of school blues! We should all go out to Hogsmeade together!" said Alice.

"Unless a cute boy asks us out and we really don't want to refuse," said Kay, casting a sideways glance towards Alice.

"What do you mean?" asked Lily, puzzled about what Kay had said.

"She's been spending to much time in Divination," muttered Alice. The girls started to laugh.

---

"Evans, you're really distracted," said James, looking at Lily. She had almost walked into a knight for the fourth time.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"What's up?" he asked her.

"It's just something Kay said. She's really good in Divinations," said Lily, shaking her head to try and clear her thought.. James snorted. "Anyway," she said, casting him a glance, "she said we should go to Hogsmeade, we three girls, together."

"So?" said James, confused as to why Lily was confused.

"Well, she said unless some one asks us out who we want to go out with," she said.

James nodded. "So you think, some one, namely me, will ask you out and you might just say yes, all because of what Kay Spooner said?" asked James.

Lily sighed. "It's more complicated than that. Some of her other predictions came true. She said I should be "mind brown goo", and the next day, I tripped and fell in mud!" said Lily.

James laughed. Lily glanced at him angrily. "I'm laughing because you're always so poised and I never see you fall or tri---" said James.

He stopped laughing suddenly.

"Good, Potter. Now I will take off the charm if you shut up!" said Lily, with her wand out. James nodded and Lily reversed the charm.

"So tonight will you still sleep in my bed?" asked James.

"Yes and would you...maybe mind... you know...sleeping in it... with me?" asked Lily, struggling to get the words out. James looked at her in awe. "You know, just in case my leg cramps up and I can't get out of bed," added Lily quickly, blushing. James and Lily laughed and went to the Head's dorm.

"Just keep your hands to yourself, alright?" asked Lily, climbing into James bed. The bed was a king size bed and was big enough for both of them.

James nodded. "But, you know, you can have your hands anywhere on me. I don't really mind," James said, before winking at Lily.

"Good-night," she said, rolling her eyes.

----

"So, we heard you slept with Potter last night," said Kay, smiling at Lily. The students near them stared in wonder at Lily.

"Not like that!" said Lily. Everyone knew by now that James had a big thing for Lily. She was off-limits to any boy who did not want to end up in Hospital Wing. "And, how did you find out anyway?"

"Alice and Frank were walking around the castle last night and they heard your dirty talking."

A blush rose to the red-head's face. "It wasn't dirty talk!"

"So, does he have a nice bod?" asked Kay, grinning. Oh, how she loved to torture her friend.

Lily sighed. Sure, she had seen his body. He only slept in boxers. But she was not about to tell her friend that. "I don't know," said Lily shrugging, the image of him popping into her mind.

"_Damn it! Why do I keep lying to my friend?_" she thought.

"Are we still on for Sunday?" asked Alice, sitting down next to Lily. Lily nodded, trying to rid the image of James in his boxers.

----

James and Lily didn't talk very much for the next days. Questions burned their minds. No answers were found.

"_Why did Lily call me James a few weeks ago? Why had she gaped opened-mouthed at me when I took my shirt off? Why did she seem truly interested when I had a fight with Sirius?_" he asked himself.

"_Why did I have to stare at his chest? Why did I call him James? Am I in love with him? No! He's cocky and rude and a trouble-maker! But that's what makes him well him! Was Jasmine right? Does he really love me? Jasmine doesn't always hear the truth. Maybe this was one of those times,"_ thought Lily.

James and Lily went to their separate beds in the Griffindor towers. Both desperately wanted to ask each other the burning questions, but neither wanted the answers. They both fell asleep without having even said good-night.

**Author's note: Those questions will be answered soon enough, I think. I'm not too sure what I'm going to write in the next chapters. Hopefully, the ideas will come soon! Review!**

**A/N2: Being re-type. **


	7. Hogsmead Trip with an unexpected hug

**Author's note: Hey thank you all for your reviews! Mooney4Mooney, I totally agree with you. If I had been Lily (boo hoo I'm not) I would have stared at James's chest also. Lol. For the kissing, I'm not too sure when it will happen. I will try soon enough to get them to kiss. **

**PiaMcKinnon, the questions were at the end of Chapter 6. The thoughts. Sorry if it wasn't clear.**

**Also, I want to dedicate this chapter to my pen pal Sarah, who is going to have her Batmitzvah!**

Chapter 7 Hogsmead Trip with an unexpected hug

Saturday came fast and Lily's leg was healing very well. She proposed to her friends that they have a boy-free day, but Alice disagreed. Everyone knew something had been going on between her and Frank Longbottom, but the others respected her privacy. Alice would tell when she felt the time was right. Meanwhile, all three girls decided to go to Hogsmeade.

---

"Where should we go first?" asked Alice as they entered the village..

"How about Zonko's? Then maybe Honeydukes?" asked Kay. Lily nodded. Zonko's was not her favourite store, but her friends wanted to go and they outnumbered her..

"Then we can explore the town for new shops! We haven't been here since June and we're already in last weekend of October! We can finish it all up with butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks, like we always do," suggested Lily. The girls all agreed and started walking towards Zonko's. Suddenly Alice stumbled.

"What is it?" asked the other two.

"I don't know -- a cold feeling -- some people say it means somebody's walking over your grave. Do you believe that?"

"Maybe you could ask the Divinations teacher." said Kay.

"Or maybe not," said Lily. "I don't particularly want to know about my grave. Let's go."

Bellatrix Black, concealed in a bush, watched with hatred as the girls walked away.

----

James and his friends needed to get some shopping done. Hallowe'en was coming and the other Marauders were planning a big Trick/Treat.

"So what's the plan, mates?" asked James, walking next to his friends on the main village street. He had been busy helping out Lily and had not much time to plan the Trick/Treat with his friends.

"Well, you see, we're not going to talk about it here. Too many ears that could hear us," said Sirius, looking around. Sure enough, they spotted Bellatrix Black hiding in the bushes. The Marauders quickly moved away out of range.

"But we will buy the supplies today, and tell you later," said Remus, smiling.

"You know, James, I thought you said you weren't going to play a Trick/Treat this year, but now you're interested. Are you over Lily or something?" asked Peter.

James looked at his friend in surprise. "Why would I be over Lily Evans? She's the prettiest girl and the cleverest..."

Remus and Sirius shot Peter a evil glance. They now had to listen to James tell them all over again why Lily was perfect.

"Way to go, Wormtail," said Sirius in his friend's ear. Peter looked at his shoes as his face turned red.

"Peter has a point," said Remus. Sirius shot him a glance but Remus ignored it. "You told us you weren't going to play pranks anymore. Why the sudden change in heart?"

James sighed. "Because I'm a Marauder. I have to keep up the tradition! So what if Lily gets mad?" James shrugged. "I'll just tell her that I'm a Marauder and that it's my duty." Then he looked at his friends in concern. "No one will get hurt, right?"

Sirius laughed. "Don't worry! The only thing that's going to get hurt is a certain house's school spirit!"

James grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for then?" he said, as they walked into Zonko's.

-----

Alice recovered fairly quickly, and the three concentrated on shopping. But Lily's good spirits failed when she looked towards the door and saw the Marauders come in. "Oh no!" groaned Lily. Why did James have to come and spoil her day out with her friends? Were the Marauders responsible for making Alice feel so odd?

He saw her in the corner of his eye and frowned._ "How am I going to be able to pull of this trick when Lily could find out about it?" _he thought. He passed Sirius some money and said something in his ear before leaving.

Lily was puzzled but decided to ignore it, since her friends had paid for their items and were ready to leave.

The three girls entered Honeydukes and headed straight to the chocolate counter. The smell of all the sugary sweets left each girl's sweet tooth aching. After rummaging through the different bars of chocolate, they loaded as much as they could into their already full hands. As her friends were paying for their purchases, Lily went over to another shelf and picked up a box of sugar quills.

As she walked back to her friends, James and the other Marauders came in. Once again he looked at Lily, gave Sirius some money, whispered something in his ear, and then left. Lily couldn't understand. Suddenly, it hit her: she cared what James Potter did. She mentally hit herself, scolding her mind for thinking such lies, even when her heart was trying to tell her otherwise.

The red-head and her friends explored the rest of the town. A new café had opened at "the cursed place"; a building where shops had not lasted more than a few months. Most people thought that its bad luck was due to nearness to the Shrieking Shack, thought Lily didn't understand why people were afraid of it. She had never heard any sounds coming from it, and she wasn't one to believe anything without proof.

"How long do you think it'll last?" asked Lily.

"I bet 5 galleons that it will stay for 3 months," said Kay.

"3 and a half months," said Alice, who didn't seem bothered by this particular curse..

"2 and a half months," said Lily.

"4 months," a voice behind them countered. The girls jumped and turned around. Frank Longbottom was standing there. "Hullo, Alice." He smiled at the two other girls. "Lily, Kay, nice to see you."

"Hullo Frank," Alice said, blushing. Lily and Kay nodded their hello.

"I'm sorry to scare you girls, but I was wondering if Alice would like to take a walk with me," he said. Alice nodded and took his outstretched arm. Kay and Lily agreed to meet later to talk.

"So where to now?" asked Lily.

"The Three Broomsticks," said Kay.

A few minutes later, the two girls were sitting in a booth of the popular pub, conscious of the fact that there was room for more.

"I wonder why Alice didn't tell us about her date with Frank?" mused Key.

"Maybe because she didn't want to ruin our fun. Or was afraid we would ruin hers." "Maybe. She and Frank probably arranged this whole 'meet up by chance later' thing. Do you think that grave business was an act?"

"No. Alice isn't the melodramatic "love and death" sort of girl."

The bar-maid, Madam Violet, came over to take the order. "My daughter Rosemerta will be bringing your drinks," she told the pair. Lily and Kay nodded. A few minutes later, a young woman came will the drinks. Rosemerta looked very much like her mother with her brown hair and green eyes. But Rosemerta wore flashy green shoes and a flashy blue robe whereas her mother wore plain black shoes and a purple robe. Lily took a sip of her butterbeer. The warm liquid filled her with warmth inside.

The door jingled and four boys walked in. Lily nearly choked on her drink when she saw who they were. Sirius, James, Peter and Remus sat in the booth not too far away from the girls. Sirius and Peter kept looking in their direction, but James and Remus looked down at the floor.

"Damn," Lily cursed. "It's like they're following us!"

"Well, we don't really own anything here, so it might just be a coincidence," Kay argued. "Or maybe, you're making yourself believe that," she added, under her breath.

But Lily heard her. "Stop it, dammit! I am not in love with Potter nor will I ever be!" hissed Lily before storming out, leaving a opened-mouthed Kay sitting in the booth.

Lily ran outside and began to walk towards a bench. She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. She spun around quickly, talking the hand off of her shoulder at the same time. Accidentally, she wound up hitting the person in the jaw. Looking at her attacker, she gasped. It was not Kay as she thought, but Potter.

He rubbed his jaw. "Ow, why the hell did you do that?" he asked.

Lily was horrified. "Oh god! I'm so sorry! I thought you were Kay!"

James rubbed his jaw again. "I suppose I'm glad I'm not Kay, then. Bloody woman! You hit hard!" he said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why did you follow me?" she asked.

"Because, I'm a stalker that wants to harm you." Lily snickered. "I just came to see if you were okay and after all, I AM your bodyguard," said James, moving his jaw once again to make sure it wasn't broken.

Lily sighed. "Yeah, thanks," she said, sitting back down on the bench.

"Merciful Merlin!" James put his hand over his heart. "Did you just thank me? I think I might faint," James sighed, pretending to stagger slightly.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to put your hand to your head if you're fainting." She was glad that a giant bush hid the bench from most people's view..

"Oh." James' face tinged a slight pink color.

Lily smiled, but then suddenly, she began to cry. Tears poured down her face. James looked at her in concern. "Lily, are you okay?" he asked.

Lily shook her head, not trusting her own voice. James held her in his arms as she cried.

"Oh, James. I'm sorry I hit you, and I'm sorry I broke down like that! It's just my friends have been getting on my nerves lately."

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you didn't break my jaw. I might have lost my reputation as a good kisser," he said cockily. He knew as soon as he said that, that it was the wrong choice of words, but to his surprise, Lily laughed.

"Like you would be able to lose a reputation like that!" she said. "And I swear if you ever tell anyone about what happened before, I really will break your jaw."

----

On returning to Hogwarts, Lily went through the Gryffindor Common Room up to the girls dormitory, wanting to hear all the details from Alice's date. A gaggle of girls in the corner were glaring at her, evidently jealous of all the attention James was giving Lily, even though the two had been careful to separate before entering.

Kay was sitting on her bed reading a scroll when she walked in. Kay looked up.

"Oh Lily! I'm so sorry!" she said, getting up from her bed.

Lily hadn't even remembered the argument, and certainly held no resentment.. "Actually, I wanted to tell you thanks," said Lily, a twinkle in her green eyes.

"Oh, okay...What? Why?" asked Kay, looking puzzled.

"Just because," said Lily, not wanting to tell her friends that she had cried in James' arms and that she felt loved and secure in his strong, muscular arms.

"So how was YOUR date?" asked Kay as Alice came into the room, her face slightly pink.

"Amazing!" sighed Alice, lying down on her bed. "Simply amazing!"

Kay giggled. "Is he a good kisser?" she asked.

Alice shot up from her bed and hit her head. "Bloody hell!" she muttered. "What makes you say we kissed?" she asked, the pink now turning a crimson color.

"Well, first of all, your lipstick's a bit smudged and I've never seen you this happy," Kay said.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll tell you. YES!" she said, sighing dreamily.

Lily and Kay giggled. "Awww."

"So what did you two do after I left?" asked Alice.

"Well, we went to the Three Broomsticks and then we had a fight about..." started Kay, but Alice finished the sentence.

"Potter?"

Kay nodded. "Lily stormed out and I was left alone."

"What happened after you stormed out, Lily?" pried Alice.

Lily blushed. "Nothing," she muttered. Kay and Alice stared at her. Lily looked at her watch. "I've got to go!" she said, then ran off, happy to leave her friend's knowing gazes.

---

While patrolling in the hallway that evening, James got the courage to ask Lily something that had been bothering him. "Lily, I want to know something," he said.

Lily stopped walking. James stopped too. "What?" she asked, afraid to know what he wanted to know.

"Why did you let me hold you today?" he said, in an almost whisper, afraid that if he said it to loud, it might not have really happened.

Lily was lost for words. "I... I... guess..."she stuttered. "Look, there's a student out of bed!" She was glad that this distraction came when it did, though it was not very fortunate for the student.

She rushed over to the first-year, who looked miserable. "I'm lost. I wanted to go to the loo," he said.

Lily nodded and gave him directions back to the Ravenclaw common room. James let the subject go and didn't talk to Lily the whole was back to the Griffindor common room. Both gave the other a half-hearted good-night before going up their separate staircases.

**Author's note: So what did you think of this chapter? I didn't like it very much myself. I had better things I was going to do but by the time I actually got to write them, I realized my story was already in place.**

**A/N 2: Being Re-Typed.**


	8. Bludger Headache

Chapter 8 Bludger Headache

Lily and James became closer after their little get-together in Hogsmeade, and James never mentioned his question again in fear that Lily might get angry with him. Lily was relieved because she wasn't very sure of the answer herself. Was she really falling for James or had it been just his kind gesture? She was unsure of everything that had been going on lately; everything from James to Kay and Alice to Charms homework.

James was happy because Lily was his friend. She was not yelling at him, a big plus in his mind, and she had not insulted him as much as she usually did. She even had paired up with him in class once or twice. He knew that the Trick/Treat that he and his friends were going to play was not going to get Lily mad, but it would be funny. Plus nobody would get hurt, so she'd have no real reason to get mad.

---

On Hallowe'en the four Marauders went down to breakfast, their plan in place. They knew they might get in trouble, but a Trick/Treat was traditional and had to be followed through. They had spent the whole night planning.

"Okay, so we got everything ready?" asked James, yawning.

"Yes, and don't fall asleep. We need you to catch the Snitch today," answered Sirius.

"Right," said James, smiling. "A match, Hallowe'en and a prank. What a day!"

Lily and her friends came in. James smiled at Lily and she smiled back. "Okay, I'm ready," said James.

"I see you got a good-luck smile," Remus teased.

"Look, all the Slytherins are here. Ready, set, go!" said Sirius. All of a sudden, all the Slytherins screamed. Their hair had turned gold and red! The Gryffindor colours. Everyone laughed at the feeble attempts of the Slytherins to rid themselves of the colour. Severus Snape, widely known to be the most skillful of the Slytherins, tried to cast a counterspell on himself, pointing his wand at his own head. As a result his hair turned green, the Slytherin colour. Even the Marauders hadn't anticipated that twist.

James saw all the teachers looking at them. It seemed as if most of them were trying to hold back smiles, including Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin.

"Damn those Gryffendors!" yelled Lucius Malfoy. Slughorn marched up to Malfoy with a stern expression on his usually casual face. James heard him say something about "rude yelling" and "detention without magic". James smiled and looked at Lily. She was smiling, which made him smile. She wasn't mad.

----

"Okay, this is the first match of the year. Of course we have to play the Slytherins. Just remember: DO NOT pass them the Quaffle. The colour of their hair might confuse you. Just think, when we win, we will have the whole school's support whether they want it or not," said James, to his team. Everyone nodded and headed towards the stadium with their brooms in hand.

"On the Gryffendor team we have: Applegate, Longbottom, Black, Spooner, Rollins, Balliett and Potter!" said the blond-haired announcer, Rita Skeeter, into the magical microphone. She was a third-year Ravenclaw well known for spreading the most ridiculous rumors. "And on the other Gryffendor team," she said, provoking many boos. "Oops, I mean on the Slytherin team: Lestrange, Avery, Rockwood, Lief, Endon, Millson and Malfoy!"

Lily and Alice sat next to Remus, and Peter. Frank, Kay and Sirius were on the team with James. Patricia Applegate, who was in her 5th year, had short black hair, was a Chaser alongside Frank and Mark Rollins, a blond-haired 4th year. Kay and Sirius were the Beaters and Jason Balliett, a timid brown-haired boy in his 6th year, was Keeper. James, of course, was the new Seeker, since last year's had graduated.

Lily, Alice, Remus and Peter cheered on the team as loudly as they could. Lily was never really interested in Quidditch, but this year, it seemed so exciting.

James was glad to be flying again. The feeling was amazing, as if he were free to be whomever he wanted, and could do whatever he pleased. He looked around and saw Lily cheering him on. Butterflies crept into his stomach.

It was his duty to win; not just for him or the team. For Lily. He could just see her beaming at him, as he caught the Snitch. Then she'd rush down and passionately kiss him and tell him she loved him. He didn't realize he had been daydreaming until a bludger whizzed past his ear. He came back to the real world determined to win.

Half an hour past, and Gryffendor was winning 50 to 20. James looked around to find the Snitch. All of a sudden he saw Malfoy, who was the Slytherin Seeker, diving deep and fast. A glint of gold caught the raven-haired boy's eyes. James was closer than Malfoy and he dived. He got closer. A few more inches... and James felt the round Snitch wiggle in his hand.

As he lifted it in the air, and saw that he and Lily were staring face-to-face with each other. Lily smiled, then suddenly paled, pointing to something behind James. He turned and saw a bludger coming at him. He put his arms around his head and felt the impact. Then he fell into darkness.

---

James woke up, feeling someone's hand in his. It felt like a very familiar hand. Soft, and delicate. He squeezed the hand and heard a small gasp. When he opened his eyes, he saw the familiar red hair. Even without his glasses on, he knew who that was.

"Lily," he whispered. Lily smiled, even if James couldn't see it.

"It's me."

"Where's my glasses?" he asked. Lily leaned over him and he felt her body on his. Then, she straightened back up and put his glasses on. His sight wasn't blurred anymore and saw his beautiful red-head. "Were you crying?" he asked, noticing her puffy eyes.

She nodded. "You took a really bad blow to the head, James. What were you thinking? Why didn't you duck?" she asked.

"Are you sure it's you, Lily? You sound like my mother!" he said, laughing. He immediately regretted it. Clutching his sides, he moaned. "Bloody hell!"

"You broke a few bones, you know," she said.

"Yeah, I guess I figured it out the hard way," he said, with a chuckle.

"You didn't answer my question," said Lily.

"Well, you never answered mine," replied James swiftly.

Lily was puzzled. "Which one?"

"Remember when I asked you why you let me hold you while you cried?" he asked. Lily nodded. "Well, if you answer my question, I'll answer yours," he said.

Lily sighed. "I guess, it was because... I felt... sad and your hug... reminded me of my dad's hug," she lied. She knew in her heart that that answer was only half-true. She tried to deny it, but she could not anymore. She was falling for James and there was no stopping it...

James was a little disappointed in her answer. He had hoped she would have declared her love for him, but he knew that it was just a fantasy of his. She didn't feel like that about him, and he doubted if she ever would.

"Now for my question."

James smiled. "Lily, did you not notice the direction the bludger was coming in? If I would have ducked or moved in any way, it would have hit you. I am, after all, your bodyguard," he said.

Lily stared at James for a moment. "James, why do you keep doing it?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

James looked at Lily in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked, almost afraid of what she was going to say.

"Why do you always have to save me?"

James smiled. "Because, Lily," he said. "I..." Madam Pomfrey suddenly rushed in.

"Good, you're awake! It's been two days that you'd been unconscious. You need some medicine," she said, stuffing a large spoon with what looked like green, lumpy stuff, into James mouth . Lily looked at it with disgust. James gagged as he choked it down.

"What is that?" he asked, looking slightly green, as if the medicine had gone straight to his skin.

"Medicine," she replied, with an expression that said "Duh!".

James shuddered as he swallowed the rest of the liquid, which satisfied Madam Pomfrey enough that she left. "Damn woman wants to poison me," said James. Lily giggled. He looked at the time. "Lily! You'll be late for rounds!" he gasped.

Lily shook her head. "Dumbledore's given me the night off," she said.

"Oh, well, then I better go off to do rounds by myself," he joked, trying to get up. A pain rippled down his side. "OW," he cried, lying back down.

"James!"

"I'm fine," he said, but his face said otherwise. "Come sit next to me." There was just enough room for Lily to lie down next to him.

"I shouldn't try to sleep here," she said.

"I know."

Lily smiled. "I'm not tired."

"I think you are," said James. "When was the last time you slept?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Um, I slept last night for about 4 hours," she said.

"Just put your head on the pillow," said James.

Lily sighed. "Fine!" she said, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell fast asleep.

----

"Well, Albus, I think this is a first," said McGonagall, walking in Hospital Wing with Dumbledore the next morning. Looking at James and Lily, asleep next to each other. Lily groggily opened her eyes, only to see McGonagall and Dumbledore, who was smiling at her, staring at the pair. She was confused.

"Why are you in the Head's dorm?" asked Lily, not yet fully awake.

"Dear, you're in Hospital Wing sleeping next to Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, with a small smile on her face. Lily jumped up from the bed, waking James.

"Whatsgoingon," he asked, half-asleep. He opened his eyes and saw the headmaster and his head of house looking from him to Lily. "Hullo," James said, groggily to Dumbledore.

"Well, it looks as if you have a made a nice recovery," said Dumbledore, a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes .

"We won, right?" he asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "And Mr. Black caught your broom just before it hit the Whomping Willow."

James sighed and closed his eyes. "Good."

"Miss Evans, may I please ask why you were in Mr. Potter's bed?" asked McGonagall.

"I came to visit Potter last night to see how he was doing. He woke up and we talked. Potter coaxed me into lying in the bed with him so that I could rest, since I didn't sleep very much last night. I guess I fell asleep," she said. McGonagall nodded. Lily looked at her watch. She was late for potions!

---

"Miss Evans, will you please tell me why you're late?" asked Professor Slughorn, the potions teacher.

"I went to check on James Potter and Professor McGonagall needed to talk to me," said Lily, sitting down next to her friends.

"Ah, I see. Well, as I was saying..." Professor Slughorn continued.

"So, you went to visit Potter?" asked Kay, in a low voice so that Slughorn didn't hear them.

Lily nodded. "He's awake now," Lily answered.

"Good," said Alice. Lily nodded and tried to pay attention to what the potion master was saying, but memories of James' body next to hers haunted her thoughts.

----

"Hey, mate!" said Sirius, sitting on James bed.

James grinned. "Hullo there, my fellow Marauders. Did you lot get detention?"

"Yeah, but McGonagall 'forgot' to tell us when it was going to be," Remus said, grinning. "Has _she_ poisoned you yet?"

James nodded. "The old witch is trying to kill me with the medicine. It's green and..." started James, but Madam Pomfrey came in.

"Medicine time!" she told him. She took her spoon full of the horrid medicine and shoved it into James mouth before he could object. After she left, James gagged.

"Evil...gross... yuck," said James, trying not to vomit. Sirius and Remus looked at James. They had a look of disgust on their faces.

"Ug, that looks gross," Sirius said. Remus nodded.

Peter was confused. "Why do you have to take medicine?"

"I'm not sure," said James, shrugging.

"I know," said Remus. "I asked Madam Pomfrey and she said it was because you had a concussion. You needed to take the medicine so that we know your brain won't get damaged." Remus smirked. "You know, any more than it already is."

"Hey! Let's find out if his brain is still fine. What are the two best things in the world?" asked Sirius.

James thought. "Lily and Quiditch," replied James.

"Well, Quiditch is right, but the other answer is girls!" said Sirius, laughing.

"What, I'm not a girl?" asked a voice behind them. Sirius stopped laughing.

Remus, Peter and James resumed the laughing. "I...um..." stuttered Sirius.

Lily started to laugh. "You know Sirius, with all the girls you've snogged, I would have guessed you would have known the difference between a girl and a boy," said Lily, trying hard to stop laughing.

"I know the difference!" Sirius protested.

Lily raised her eyebrow. "Then why did you stutter when I asked you if you knew I was a girl?"

Remus and James were howling with laughter, while Sirius was staring opened-mouthed at Lily. "James, tell your girlfriend to back off," he said.

Lily blushed. James smiled. "Well first of all, Lily isn't my girlfriend...yet," he said, winking at

Lily. "And second of all, she's a grown woman and can do what she wants, even it's to insult you."

Sirius stared at his best friend. "But, Lily, I think it's time you back off a bit," James said.

Lily nodded. "By the way, Potter. I wanted to tell you that all the teachers decided not to give you homework," she said.

James grinned. "All right!" he said, punching the air.

"Looks like you're better," commented Lily, before she walked out of Hospital Wing.

**Author's note: So this chapter was a bit longer. I just thought we could get a Quiditch game on and the big Prank had to be played. So review, review, review! Plus I want to thank everyone once again for the reviews!**

**A/N2: Being re-typed.**


	9. Once Again Saved

Chapter 9 Once Again Saved

James came out of the Hospital Ward on Friday, and as soon as he entered the Common room, they started the party. They were having a late celebration of Gryffindor's victory. James was surprised to see Lily partying with the rest of them; she was a quiet girl who usually went up to her room to read or do her homework during loud gatherings. That night, she was partying and having fun with her friends. After a while, she and James went off to do rounds.

"So you're feeling better?" she asked.

James smiled. "Yup, good as new," he said.

"Good. That's good."

The rest of the time they talked about how the Quidditch match went ("Did you see that dive that Malfoy took? It was pathetic!" James' exclaimed), about school ("Really, McGonagall gives out way too much homework!" Lily whined) and their families.

"My mom's a lawyer, that's a Muggle that tries to help people not go to jail or pay whatever fine when they break the law," she said. "My dad's a dentist. And my sister is a pain in the arse. She thinks I'm some sort of freak because I'm a witch. She's going to be marrying this man, if you want to call him that. He's the size of a baby whale and eats like a pig! He's rude too," said Lily.

"I can tell you just love him!" said James, sarcastically.

Lily laughed. "I love my parents and I loved my sister. She stopped loving me the day I got my letter and has deepened her hatred for me every day," said Lily.

James smiled. "Who could hate you?"

"Apparently, my sister and most Slytherins," she said.

"Slytherins don't count," said James.

Lily grinned. "What about you?" she asked. "What's your family like?"

James thought for a moment. "Well, I'm an only child, but two years ago, Sirius ran away from home, and came to live with us. So he's sort of like my brother. My parents are ex-Aurors. They retired about 5 years ago after my grandfather fell ill," said James. "He died a year later."

"Oh, I'm so sorry James. I know exactly how you feel. My Gramps died a few years ago also," she said.

James smiled. "My grandfather was an Auror also. Harry Potter was his name. I had always wanted to call my first child after him," said James.

Lily smiled. "That's cool."

"Yeah, and I'm going to follow in my grandfather's and my parent's footsteps. I'm going to be an Auror when I get out of Hogwarts," said James.

"I also want to be an Auror," she said.

James looked at her. "Really? I always thought you were going to be a teacher or something," he said.

"Well, I did until our 4th year when I decided I wanted to help defeat You-Know-Who -- do you mind if I say Voldemort?"

"Not at all. We shouldn't let him cow us."

"I won't. He had killed my parents' best friends, and I wanted to get him back for it," said Lily.

James smiled. "Maybe you will some day."

---

When Lily and James got back to the Head's Dorm, they realized that they had forgotten to stop the party. It was midnight and everybody was supposed to be in bed. Lily was just about to leave when James stopped her. He knew _eventually_ it was going to get stopped.

"Wait! Let's just stay here! We'll have a party of our own!" James whined, wanting to be alone with the red-head.

"Well maybe not a party, but we should work on some of our plans for social events," said Lily.

"A planning party!" said James.

Lily laughed. "Fine. A planning party."

James jumped up from the couch. "Be right back, and don't leave," he said, then rushed out of the room.

Lily took out her quills and a scroll to write down their plans. After ten minutes of waiting, she decided to go up to her room quickly and change into nightwear. She donned a pair of warm trousers and a big t-shirt. She went back in the Common room and James still wasn't back yet. Lily decided to start writing. She pulled a blank scroll and tried an idea she had read in _Witch Weekly_. You were to stop thinking about everything and just let your hand write everything. It should tell you your heart's desires. Lily didn't think it was true, but tried it anyway. She dipped her quill in ink and put it on the paper. She closed her eyes and felt her hand start to write.

A few minutes went by and Lily opened her eyes to see a paper full of words. She started reading it. After reading the paper, she was concerned. She had written things such as "James is sexy" and "I want James" but mostly his name had been scribbled everywhere. She couldn't believe it. Was her heart's desire to be with James?

"_Get a grip on yourself! He's only a friend." _

"_But you just wrote his name about 50 times!" _

"_He's supposed to be back by now, that's the only reason." _

"_You're worried about him." _

"_Because he's my friend." _

"_No, because Lily Evans, you are in love with James Potter!" _

"NO!" she yelled out loud. She kept having arguments in her head. It was getting quite annoying. She took the scroll and threw it in the fire.

"Whatcha doing?" asked James, coming in with butterbeer and firewhiskey.

"Nothing," Lily said, quickly. Lily went to sit down and James looked into the fire. He saw a paper with his name written everywhere, burning, and wondered if that was bad luck.. Fortunately voodoo was not considered a genuine form of witchcraft.

"Here, try some firewhiskey," said James, pushing a bottle towards Lily.

"Is it good?" she asked, watching James take a sip.

James nodded. "Yup, it was the first time I stole it from my parents' liquor cabinet and it is now."

"Okay," she said. She took a sip and gasped. "Bloody hell, this is strong stuff," said Lily.

"What, you can't take it?" said James in an I-dare-you-to-out-drink-me sort of voice.

"No, I can," said Lily taking a giant gulp full. James gasped as Lily finished the entire bottle in one sip. She winced at the strong taste and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand . "Told yeah so," she said, hiccuping.

They got to work on the plan. "Okay, so I know this is cheesy and all, and it's not really original, but for Valentine's Day, let's have a masquerade ball. Couples can go together but for some who don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, well they can come alone. Then, even if a Slytherin would ask you to dance, you won't know till the end of the night when everybody unmasks!" said James.

Lily was writing this all down. "Dumbledore will go for it," she said. "He's all for that 'inter-house' friendship thing."

James nodded. "And we should have another Hogsmeade trip next weekend," Lily nodded.

"We'll tell McGonagall in the morning," said Lily. "Well, goodnight, I'm off to bed."

----

"Lily!" said a voice behind her. She turned around and saw Zach Corner, a light browned-haired 7th year Hufflepuff , running after her. They had patrolled together quite often last year.

"Hullo," she said.

"Hullo, um... would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked.

"Um, okay," said Lily. She only realized what she had done after he left. "Damn!" she cursed, smacking her head on the wall.

"_Why did I agree?"_

"_Because you want to make James jealous." _

"_I do not!" _

"_Yes you do and you know it in your heart. How do I know? I am your heart!" _

"_Well this is my brain and I tell you to leave me alone." _

"_Ah, but I cannot. I'm there when you feel those butterflies in your stomach and I start to beat faster when James comes closer." _

"_Shut up!" _

"_NO!" _

"_YES LEAVE ME ALONE!" _Lily argued once more with herself before turning her thoughts to her next class.

----

The second week of November arrived and Lily was getting ready for her date with Zach.

"Tell me again why you're going out with him?" asked Kay, sitting on her bed, watching Lily fumble with her makeup.

"I'm not really sure, to tell you the truth. It just slipped out of my mouth before my brain could take in the question," said Lily.

"Here, let me help you," said Kay, walking towards Lily. She added a bit of eyeshadow and some lip gloss. "There you go! Now remember, if you snog him, tell us if it was good."

"I won't be snogging him, and where is the other part of "us"?" asked Lily.

"Frank and Alice are already on their date! Soon they'll have to do more than snogging, they've gone out for so long," said Kay.

"O...kay," said Lily, not quite sure she wanted to know what Kay meant. "You sure you don't want to come?"

"Homework! Sorry!" said Kay.

----

"So Lily, do you like Quidditch?" Zach said, walking with Lily in Hogsmeade.

Lily loved Quidditch when James was playing, but she didn't want to reveal that. "A little," she said, shrugging.

Zach started talking about the Quidditch World Cup a few years back. Lily was bored and looked around. She wished it had been James she was with. At least he didn't drone on and on about something. He would say it then get over it. Lily held back a groan as she realized what she just thought.

"So, were do you want to go?" asked Lily, cutting Zach's speech short.

"Um, here follow me," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into an alley. She realized she didn't feel the spark or the butterflies in her stomach. Before she knew what was happening, Zach had pinned Lily against the wall and was trying to kiss her.

---

"So James, where are we heading?" asked Remus. James, Remus and Sirius had decided to go into Hogsmead to buy some "supplies", while Peter had detention for not doing his homework for the 5th time that week.

"Well I thought we could go into Zonko's first," said James. Then he heard his name being called, ever so softly.

---

Lily was pinned up against the wall. Zach was too strong for her. His body was pressed tightly against hers. Then she heard it.

"...We could go into Zonko's first," said a voice she knew very well.

"James," she tried to say, but Zach was so heavy it was heard to breath. She gathered all her strength and was able to say "James, help!" in an almost whisper.

She heard James say "Lily," and saw him coming into the alley. James's face was red and took out his wand. He threw a spell on Zach, and he went flying. Lily fell to the ground, clutching her chest with tears rolling down her face.

James threw another spell at Zach, who then ran away with a toad's head in the place of his own. James rushed over to Lily and kneeled down next to her.

"Are you all right?"

Lily cried some more. "I... I'm so...sorry," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"For what?" asked James, puzzled at why she was the one that was sorry.

"For having you come to my rescue all the time! It's not fair to you or me! I should be able to take care of myself," she said.

James took her hand and a spark ran though her. "Lily, don't be sorry. Every now and then, people need to be helped," he said. After Lily's breath returned to normal and she had stopped crying, she got up.

"James, thank you for saving me," she said. She realized her hand was still in his and quickly took her hand away.

"You're welcome."

She smiled shyly. "You must think I'm some silly damsel in distress, right?" she asked.

"No, I don't. I think your having a rough year with all the stuff going on and all the time you almost died," he said.

"Well, since we're all pouring the contents of our soul out, I think I should bring to light that I think Mrs. Potter was a total babe when she was younger and that if I would have been Mr. Potter, I would have tried to make love to her all night long!" said Sirius, in a casual tone. Lily, James and Remus looked at Sirius. Sirius laughed uncomfortably. "Oh, I should have guessed that the soul pouring was just for the two love birds over there," Sirius said, pointing to Lily and James.

Lily blushed furiously and James smiled. "So mates, do you think Lily could hang with us?" asked James. "I doubt she wants to go back and see frog boy."

"On one condition," said Remus.

"What?" asked Lily, puzzled.

"You let us play a prank on the Slytherins," he said.

Lily grinned maliciously "As long as I get to prank Zach Corner also, I'm in," she said, loving the look of surprise on all three faces of the Marauders.

**Author's note: Lol! I just love all the stupid things Sirius says! He's fun to write about. I hope you liked this chapter. I liked it. Please Review! From now on, I've decided to post 2 chapters. Not all the time, but for a while.**

**A/N 2: Being Re-typed.**


	10. Unexpected Christmas Plans

Chapter 10 Unexpected Christmas Plans

Lily and James had been seen everywhere together. Rumors were flying that they were a couple. His friends knew this was not true. Lily and James had been plotting their revenge. Sirius and Remus helped. Peter tried, but was not very good at coming up with plans.

"So, Lily, is it true what they are saying?"asked Kay, when Lily had walked into the Common room with James. "What are they saying?" said Lily with a small smile on her face. "That you and Potter were caught snogging on duty?" asked Kay. Lily laughed. "Who told you that?" Lily asked. "A 3rd year," said Kay. "Did she have long brown hair and was named like Anna or something?" asked Lily. Kay looked puzzled but nodded. "Ha, James and I caught her snogging someone when she should have been in bed," said Lily, still laughing. "James and I are not going out nor have we ever snogged," said Lily. "But you would tell me right?" said Kay. Lily smiled. "Ya," said Lily. "By the way, why are you calling him James now?" asked Kay. "Well James and I are friends, so we're on a first name basis," said Lily. "Oh, so what have you been doing in the Head's dorm? Sirius said that the painting won't let anyone in, not even if you have a password,"said Kay. "Oh, you caught me! I've been shagging him in secret," said Lily laughing. Some of the girls in the common room her heard her and glared at her. "I'm just kidding! Look, we're planning something really special that we don't want anyone to see," said Lily. Kay smiled. "Good, and if you ever shag him, tell me how good he is," she said with a wink.

"So, Miss Lily, I heard you've been shagging me in secret. I must be a really heavy sleeper or have amnesia," said James, that night as they were patrolling the hallways. Lily laughed. "James, you should have seen the look on Kay's face! It was hilarious," said Lily. "All the girls in the common room were glaring at you," said James, laughing also. "Don't you know you have a fan club?" she asked. James looked confused. "I have a fan club?" asked James. "And how do you know this? Are you the president?" asked James, cockily, with a wink. Lily laughed. "In your dreams!" she said. "Hey!" he said then lunged forward to tickle Lily. She shrieked and ran away from James. "I know your weakness!" yelled James, running after Lily.

Lily laughed and ran into the Heads dorm. She ran into her room and hid under her bed. She heard James come into her room and look around. He looked under the bed. "Lily, we need to get out, now," he said in a serious voice. "Why?" asked Lily. "Trust me," he said, putting his hand under the bed to help Lily out. She got out and saw why James was so serious. More writing had been written on the wall. Her whole room was almost covered in red. Lily gasped. "Let's get out of here," said James, in her ear. Lily nodded and let James direct her to they're common room. Lily sat on the couch, white as a ghost. "Who's doing this James," she whispered. James sighed. "I really wish I knew," said James. Lily had tears in her eyes. The words on the wall kept flashing in from her eyes. "Mudblood,""Die bitch" "Tramp" "Go to hell" were just some of them. Lily cried. James put a comforting hand on her back. "Lily, do you hear that?" asked James. Lily furrowed her brow and nodded. "Sounds like it's coming from my room," she said. They walked carefully to her room and opened the door. Lily screamed. Her room was being trashed by something invisible. James threw spells everywhere, trying to hit whatever or whoever it was but with no luck. All of a sudden, everything stopped being thrown around and everything was quiet.

Lily had trouble sleeping that night. She wanted to talk to James because he was the only one who knew the whole truth. The feeling of guilt crept back into her and felt bad that she had to lie to her friend. She wanted to tell James how she was feeling, but at three in the morning, she thought he wouldn't like to be awoken from his sleep. If only she knew he was also awake needing to talk to her...

James and Lily told Dumbledor about the attack and the new writing on the wall. Dumbledor was very troubled by the news of an invisible attacker. "Well, I see we will have to but extra precautions to insure Miss Evans is not at any risk. Lily, I am warning you myself. Be with someone at all times. Everywhere you go, you must be with someone," he told her. Lily nodded. "Now Mr. Potter will be your official bodyguard," said Dumbledor. "May I ask sir, why these things are happening to me?" asked Lily. Dumbledor thought for a moment and sighed. "Well, Miss Evans, I do not know if you know this, but you are the second most powerful witch for your age group. I think that this is either some students idea of a sick joke, or Voldemort has someone on the inside who is trying to scare you. Voldemort would love to either have you on his team or die. And since whoever is on the inside knows you would never turn to the dark side, he has only one other option," said Dumbledor. Lily looked scared. "He wants me dead?" she whispered. Dumbledor sighed. "I think so," he said, sadly. "You said Lily was number two, who's number one?" asked James. "Why, James, I would have thought it was obvious. It's you!" said Dumbledor. "You are a very powerful wizard James. Maybe not as powerful as Voldemort or some other older wizard, but for your age group, you are the most powerful," said Dumbledor. James started at Dumbledor. "So, Voldemort wants to regroup young people to become Death Eaters?" asked James. Dumbledor sighed. "Sadly, that is true. He wants younger witches and wizards, because they haven't been 'poisoned' into thinking he's mean. Sure, everyone knows that he's cruel, but if he can make get them to join before they learn what he's really like, then they won't rebel," said Dumbledor. Lily and James were scared. "Now, you two should keep an eye out for one and other. We would not want anything to happen to the Head boy and girl," said Dumbledor.

November faded away very quickly, bringing upon the students December, and Christmas. They had been so over-worked that none of them realized that Christmas was coming till the second week of December.

As Lily sat down to eat, her owl Hermes came to deliver the mail. Lily opened her letter.

_Dear Lily,_

_Your mother and I have won a trip to the Bahamas! Your sister and her fiancé Vernon will be spending time with his family. I regret to inform you that you will have to stay at Hogwarts this year unless one of your friends can take you with them. Maybe you could go to Kay's house or even that nice Potter boy. _

_Love you Lots_

_Daddy xo_

Lily reread the letter again and again. She could not believe it. She had to spend Christmas without her family this year. And, to top it all off, they were suggesting she go to James Potter's house! How could they? Lily huffed out of the Great Hall, leaving her friends still eating.

"What's up with Lily?" asked James, watching her storm out of the Great Hall. "Notice what she had in her hand?" asked Remus. "How the hell do you notice things like that?" asked James. Remus shrugged. "Oh good! There is food on this table! I'm so hungry, I bet I could eat a hippogriff!" said Sirius, sitting down in front of James. He took so much stuff on his plate, that some of it was falling off. "You know, one day, your going to eat so much, you'll look like a hippogriff," said Remus. James laughed. "Ya, them he'll be able to not just get human girls, he'll charm the hippogriff ladies!" said James. Remus chuckled and Sirius stared at James. "Fellthepoodivgroovd" said Sirius, with food in his mouth. "Eat, them talk, didn't your Mother every tell you that?" asked Remus. "I don't think my mother would give a damn if I walked around her house naked, not that I would expose my body to the filth in that house," said Sirius, this time with no food in his mouth. James laughed. "You know, I think the teachers heard you," he said. Sirius looked over to the teachers table and saw them all staring at him. He waved at them and gave them a big smile. Dumbledor waved back. Sirius laughed.

"So, Lily. It's Saturday. We should plan for our little Christmas shindig," said James, sitting next to Lily. She smiled. "Ya, your right," she said. "Have you been crying?" he asked, looking at her puffy eyes. "I'm fine," she said. "I think we should have the dance next weekend and the Hogsmeade trip the weekend after for last minute Christmas shopping," said Lily. James nodded. "So, the dance is just casual, not the whole dress robe thing right?" asked James. "Yes and for Valentines, we'll do the fancy dress robe thing," said Lily. "Okay," said James. "Lils, what's wrong?" he said. "I told you it's nothing," she said. "Lily, your hurt. I can see it in your eyes," he said. Lily sighed. "I don't want to talk about it," she said. "I have an idea. Tonight, I'll make you feel better, okay?" asked James. He knew exactly what to do... Lily nodded her head. "Okay, you'll get it after rounds tonight," he said. He got up. "I have a Quiditch practice, so you have to come with me," said James. "Why?" asked Lily. "Kay is on the team and so is Frank which means that Alice will be there cheering them on. Remus is also coming to watch and Sirius is on the team. I'm pretty sure you don't want to hang with Peter," said James, knowing he had just won his case. Lily sighed. "Fine, I'll come," she said. James put out his arm and Lily linked her arm with his, as they walked towards the Quiditch pitch.

"Ready for my surprise?" asked James. Lily nodded. "But why must I wear a blindfold?" asked Lily. "Because it's a secret room," James said in her ear. She felt her insides squirm. He was very close to her. One hand was on her back (which sent shivers up her spine) and one on her hand. He led her around making sure she couldn't see were they were going.

"We're here!" said James, taking off Lily's blindfold. She opened her eyes to see a table with two golden plates and a vase full of lilies on the table. There was a record player in the corner. "Wow," she said. "What is this room?" she asked. "The room were all your dreams come true," said James, smiling. He directed Lily to one of the chairs. He pulled it out and she sat down. He sat down opposite of her. She smiled. "This is amazing," she said. James clapped his hands, and plates of food appeared. There was spaghetti, there was chicken and there was some salad. "How did you know I liked all this stuff?" asked Lily, pouring herself a glass of fizzy water. "Don't get mad, but in our 5th year, I sort of stalked you," James said. Lily laughed. "So it was true! I told my friends it felt like someone was watching me, but they said I was paranoid!" Lily said laughing. "Your not mad?" asked James. "No, I'm not," said Lily. Lily took some spaghetti and started to twirl it with her fork. After they had eaten, desert came. It was strawberries and whipped cream. Lily laughed. "You must know everything about my life, if you stalked me," said Lily. James smiled. "I don't know what you did in the loos. That and your bedroom were the only places I didn't go," James said laughing. "Sure you didn't," said Lily, sarcastically. James laughed. Lily threw whipped cream in his face. "Hey!" he said. Then he grabbed some whip cream and threw it in Lily's face. After ten minutes, both were covered in whipped cream. "Can I lick some off?" asked James. Lily shook her head. "No way!"she said, laughing. She took out her wand and cleaned herself up. "What about me?" asked James. Lily raised her eyebrow. "What about you?" she asked. James looked at her. "You know what!" he said. "Fine!" said Lily, waving her wand. James smiled. "Now, for the last part," he said, walking over to the record machine. He turned it on. "I thought no electrical things worked here!" she said, watching in amazement as the record player started to play a song. "Well, this one is enchanted," said James. He took Lily's hand and bowed. "Can I have this dance Miss Evans?" he asked. Lily giggled. "Why, yes Mr. Potter. You may," she said.

"James, you're a great dancer," she said in James ear. "Well, my mother taught me to be a gentleman," he said. Lily giggled. "What's so funny," he asked, as he spun Lily. "When you say you're a gentleman, I keep seeing you in a black suit and a top hat, like in the old day," said Lily, giggling harder. "Well, that can be arranged," said James, smiling. He stopped dancing and took out his wand. He waved it and a top hat appeared on his head. Lily fell on the floor laughing so hard, she was clutching her sides. James was laughing too. After Lily calmed down, she got back up and went to smell the lilies. "The reason I was crying today was because my mum and dad are going to the Bahamas for Christmas and I have to stay here. Kay's going to Italy to visit her grandparents and Alice and Frank are going to Paris together," she said. James came up behind her and gave her a hug. "How about you come to my house?" he said in her ear. Lily turned around so fast that she was inches away from his face. Their lips were inches from each other. She felt butterflies in her stomach and feared that they were doubling. "Really?" she asked, in a whisper. James nodded. "Sirius is really the only one who comes to visit at Christmas but this year, his cousin Andromeda invited him to her house, so he's going to her house. I'd be all alone, with my parents of course. I could ask them if you could come," he said. Lily smiled. "I'd like that," she said, then gave James a hug. James smiled.

They got back to the common room and James told Lily he had some homework to finish. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you James. I had fun," she said, before going into James's room. James's hand went automatically to his cheek and stood there for 10 minutes, mesmerized at what had happened.

**Author's note: I like this chapter. Don't worry, James and Lily moments are coming up. That's when the real fun begins ;). So, ya... just review!**


	11. Dancing the night Away

**Author's note: Hey, thanks for the reviews. I only update if I get at least 5 reviews. **

**melonbar92, the reason I update so fast is that some of my chapters are pre-written. EriCA x0x, thanks for saying you love it! It means so much to me. Mooney4Mooney, once again, I totally agree with your reviews. I make James out to be such a gentleman so that Lily will go out with him. Gentleman! HAHAHA! Top hats! (Sorry, just had a bunch of skittles. I'm hyper ;) Thanks to PiaMcKinnon, BoOkWoRmof2005, and anyone else I might have forgotten.**

Chapter 11 Dancing the night away

Lily and James were really excited about Christmas. Lily told her friends she was going home for the holidays. Lately, she was beginning to feel like her friends were being distant with her. She felt guilty that she had to lie to them, but she knew they would probably freak out about the writing on the wall, her innocent sharing of his bed, her 'date' with James the other night, her going to his house for Christmas and her feelings. She was sure now that she felt something for James. She wasn't sure if it was just friendship or if she was love she felt.

"Lily, um... want to go to the dance with me?" James asked hiis mirror for the 5th time that morning.

"Oooh, James, it would be lovely!" said a high-pitched voice behind him. He turned and saw Sirius there, batting his eyelashes. Remus and Peter were laughing.

"Shut up!" James said, glaring at his best friends. "By the way Sirius, I didn't know you were a girl. Wait... if you're a girl, that must mean you swing the other way!"

Sirius stopped batting his eyelashes. "Well, you know, I do think you're hot..." They all fell to the floor laughing. After they calmed down, Sirius said "Really!" which sent them into even more laughter.

----

"So, this dance is just casual wear?" asked Alice, sitting down on her bed.

Lily nodded, sitting on her old bed. "You can wear Muggle clothes, like a skirt and a t-shirt or something. It's just like a regular dance. We're going to have a more dressier dance for Valentines."

Kay sighed. "I'm so bored right now," she said. "I need a boy friend."

"Why don't you go ask Remus if he wants to take a walk? Then if you can get him in a broom closet, you could snog him," said Lily.

"You're one to talk," Kay retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, Lily, you're spending all you time with Potter. I'm beginning to think you two are dating without telling us," said Kay.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Why are you hell-bent on making me admit that I have feeling for that... that... bloke! That's all he is, okay? A bloke!"

"You always get so angry when we ask you about him that what else are we supposed to think, Lils?" Alice said.

Lily suddenly decided that she was tired of treating her friends as adversaries when a truly hateful Adversary might be out in the world trying to target her. "Want to know the real reason?" she asked.

Kay looked at Lily. "That'd be nice for a change."

"Fine, follow me!" she said, storming out of the room, with her friends close behind.

When they walked up to the painting, the old wizard in it was snoring slightly. The original boy-painting had been replaced by the old man's portrait during the security upgrade, but it wasn't much of an improvement from Lily's point of view. She all but screamed the password when the man didn't wake up the first few times.

"No need to yell, miss, I'm awake."

The three girls walked into the central room and Lily threw open her door. "Here's the real reason I spend all my time with James!" she said, opening her door. Her two friends looked inside and gasped.

"Your room!"

"Yes, my room is full of threats," Lily said, breathing heavily. "I've been attacked 4 times now, and James was the one who had to save me all those times. He's even letting me sleep in his bed because the writing won't come off, and even volunteered to sleep on the couch! He's not trying to trick me into saying that I love him -- which I don't -- and he's a great listener who doesn't try to change the subject when he feels like it!" Lily said loudly. Her friends looked at her with tears in their eyes.

James came running in, with Sirius behind him. "Lily, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I told them the truth. I'm sick of lying to them about why we are always together! I'm sick of how they treat me and how they tell me whom I'm in love with. I'm just so sick of it!" she said.

Alice began to cry. "Lily, why didn't you just tell us that you didn't like it?" said Kay.

"Kay, she did," said Alice.

"What?" Kay said.

"She told us to stop, and we didn't. We've let her down," said Alice, hanging her head. Lily began to feel guilty.

"Lily..." Kay started, then sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Me too, Lils," said Alice.

"I'm sorry too, Lily," said Sirius. The mood in the room lightened at his comment.

"Why are YOU sorry?" asked Lily.

"Because I have James for a friend," he said. James smacked him. "Ow, mate. I'm just kidding!"

----

"So Lily, wanttogotothedancewithme?" asked James, as he and Lily patrolled the hallways.

"What?" she asked.

"Want to go to the dance with me?" asked James, more slowly, a slight blush creeping on his tanned skin.

Lily shrugged. "Sure."

James stopped in his tracks. "Yes?" he asked.

Lily smiled. "Yes" she repeated, nodding her head. James started dancing crazily. "James, what are you doing?" asked Lily, laughing.

"My victory dance. I've been practicing it for 6 years now, for the day you would say yes to go out with me," said James.

"It's a dance, not a date," said Lily.

"Well, you still said yes to my question, so it counts!" said James, doing a disco move.

"Nice dance moves," said Lily, still laughing.

James bowed. "Thank you, thank you!" he said, blowing kisses to a pretend audience.

"Crazy bloke," muttered Lily, but she was smiling.

----

"Lily, do you have a skirt I could borrow?" asked Kay.

"You never wear skirts!" commented Alice.

"Yeah, well, I feel like it tonight. Remus asked me to the dance," she said, a huge grin occupying her face.

"Well, that changes everything!" said Lily. She rummaged thought her trunk and found a white skirt. She tossed it to Kay, who came out of the bathroom with her knickers on. "Here, wear that with the silver shirt you have," said Lily. She had put on a black skirt and a green shirt, with a pair of white running shoes.

"You're looking all dressed up, Lils," said Alice.

"Thanks," she said, applying lip gloss to her lips.

"Think you'll get any snogging done tonight?" asked Alice.

"I hope so," said Kay giddily.

"And Lily, who are you going with?" she asked.

"James," said Lily, trying to hide a faint blush.

"Oh! The Heads better not get caught in a broom closet," said Kay in a sing song voice.

"Oh, we wouldn't snog in a broom closet. We'd just snog in our room," said Lily.

"Aha! So you admit to be snogging the hunky James Potter!" said Kay. Jasmine and her friend Sara Mitchell, the two other girls that shared the dorm with Alice and Kay, were staring at her. Everyone knew that they were the ones to go to if you wanted gossip.

"I am not snogging him nor have I ever done so!" said Lily. Jasmine and Sara were disappointed. What good gossip _that _would have made.

Lily patted her hair one more time and looked at her reflection in a mirror. "You look lovely," said Alice.

"Thanks," Lily said adding one last pin. "All-right, let's go!"

----

James, Remus and Frank all waited in the Gryffindor Common room for their dates, even if James's wasn't really a "official" date. Kay came down first and Remus stared at her. He held out his arm and walked off with Kay. Alice came down next in a pair of green pants and a red t-shirt. She had holly in her hair, which was tied back in a bun. She and Frank quickly left, leaving James waiting alone. Lily came last and James smiled at her.

"You're beautiful."

Lily smiled. "Thanks," she said, then they headed off to the dance.

The dance started at midnight, but when the pair walked in the beautifully decorated hall, nobody was dancing. All of the students were in separate groups; each of the houses in a corner of the Great Hall, with the exception of a few who were talking to their friends from other houses. The hall had been decorated for the evening; small fairies in crystal bulbs lighting up the room in a multicolored glow, round tables with silver table cloths placed around the dance floor held drinks and snacks, and a band - whom Lily believed was the hit band "Magical Notes"- was starting up a slow song.

"I think that we should show them how to dance," said James, in Lily's ear when the second song held as much promise for dance as the first. Lily nodded as he led her to the dance floor. They started to dance and Remus followed with Kay and Frank with Alice. James could see Sirius leading a blond-haired girl out of the Great Hall. He knew where that was heading.

James and Lily danced a few songs to start things off, but after the majority of the school had started dancing, they sat down next to Remus and Kay. They watched as the teachers patrolled through the dance floor to make sure no one was dancing inappropriately.

"Wow, I didn't think the turn out would be this good," Lily said, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"You thought no one would show up?" Kay asked.

"No! It's just, I didn't realize this many people liked dances!"

After a few hours had passed, James took Lily by the hand and led her outside. He conjured up two coats and gave one to Lily.

"Thanks," she said. They sat on the steps, looking at the sky. "It's beautiful out tonight."

"Yes, it is. I love to just stare at the stars," said James.

"_He's being so romantic and sweet. I think it was a good idea for me to become friends with him,"_ she thought.

James stood up and he put out his hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked her. Lily blushed and nodded. He held her close to him so she wouldn't get cold. He loved her so much, and he didn't think she loved him like that. He was her friend. That's all. She put her head on his chest and felt the rhythmic beating of his heart. She closed her eyes. She felt like time stood still. She never wanted this to end. James apparently didn't want this either.

They kept on dancing and dancing. Even when the music inside stopped, they continued to dance. It was the early rays of dawn that made them stop their rhythmic movements.

"Wow, we danced for what...6 hours?" Lily asked, looking at her watch.

James smiled. "Didn't you hear what they were playing when we left? 'I Could Have Danced all Night'. But seriously, Lily, they were the best 6 hours of my life."

**Author's note: Okay, I know most of you want some James/Lily action but it come up in the next Chapter I promise. Please Review!**

**A/N 2: Being re-typed.**


	12. Scare at Lily’s house

Chapter 12 Scare at Lily's house

"You'll love my parents," said James, packing his bags. "But what if they don't like me?" she asked. James looked at her surprised. "Lily Evans, anyone who does not like you is a complete moron," said James. Lily smiled. She found the package her parents had sent her and put it in her trunk. She had sent her presents early so that they could have them before Christmas. They, in return, send her present early also.

"It's going to be a weird Christmas," commented Kay, as the four Marauders, Lily, Kay, Alice and Frank sat down in a compartment. "Yes, the only people who are going to see each other are Alice and Frank," said Remus. Alice blushed. "Oh! Frank and Alice, together and alone in a cottage together in the city of love. Hum... What could happen?" asked Sirius. Alice and Frank both blushed furiously. Everyone laughed. "So Peter, where are you going?" asked Kay. "Germany to visit my aunt," he said. "Remus?" asked Kay. "My parents are taking some time off from work to see me. We're just going to stay home and catch up. My sister's coming back from college on the other side of England too," he said. Sirius smiled. "Your sister is hot," he commented. "Well, I couldn't agree with you because that would just be wrong on so many levels," said Remus. "Wasn't she the one who all gave us snogging advice?" asked James. Sirius laughed with his bark-like laugh. "Yup," he said. "Those were the days, weren't they?" he said. James smiled. "Well the present isn't so bad," he said, casting a sideways glance at Lily, who smiled. "Ya, I guess," Sirius said. "So Remus, have you snogged Kay yet?" asked Sirius. Remus smacked Sirius. Everyone laughed, including Remus. "So you slipped her the tongue eh?" asked Sirius. Remus sighed. "Look what I have to deal with everyday," he said. "Hello? Answer my question!" said Sirius. Remus sighed. Kay was sitting next to him and he smiled. "You really want to know?" asked Remus. "Unfortunately, I don't have a love life and I get off on other's people love life," Sirius said. "Fine!" said Remus. Facing Kay, he kissed her. He pulled away and Sirius stared. "You did!" Sirius said. Remus chuckled.

Lily said bye to all her friends. James smiled. "Come on," he said, pulling her towards a man and a woman. James stared at the man. Then he smiled and ran towards him. James was taller than both the man and the woman. "Uncle Joe!" said James, pulling his uncle into a hug. Joe had light brown hair and a small goatee. He wore horn-trimmed glasses over his blue eyes. "James, my boy, how have you been?" asked Joe. Lily walked up next to James and Joe smiled. "So, James. You've got yourself a girlfriend! Good for you. It was getting quite tiresome having to listened to you moan about that red-head girl..."said Uncle Joe, then looking at Lily's hair his smile became bigger. "So you won her over, eh? Well good for you!" he said, shaking Lily's hand. "Hi, my name's Joe McGregor. I'm Marilyn's brother," he said. "Actually, Lily's not..." started James, noticing the color of red Lily was turning. "Oh, come off it! Don't deny it! She's a real beauty this one," said Joe. "Joe!"said Mrs. Potter, a brown haired woman. Lily notice that she had to same chocolate like eyes as her son. "Hi Lily, I'm Marilyn Potter. It's nice to finally meet you. We've heard many good things about you from James. I'm so sorry for my brother's behavior," said Mrs. Potter. "Uncle Joe, weren't you supposed to come this summer?" asked James. "Yes, we were supposed to stay in France, but your aunt was sent here for some Christmas time shots," said Joe. "Oh, Marlene will be pleased you have a girlfriend. She was going to try and find someone for you, but I guess this solves the problem," said Joe. "No, Uncle Joe..." started James, but he was cut off again. "We better get going," said Joe. "Your uncle seems nice," whispered Lily, to James. James laughed.

"JAMES!" yelled a small boy, running up to James, when they walked into the Potter's house. Lily thought of it more like a small mansion. The young boy jumped into James outstretched arms and gave him a big hug. The boy had dark blond hair and blue eyes. He looked not more than 5 or 6 years old. "David, how are you?" said James, putting the boy down. "Good. I'm 6 now," said the boy holding up 6 fingers. James laughed. "Did you get my present?" he asked. David nodded. "Thanks! Hey, who's that? She's pretty," said the small boy. James laughed. "This is my friend Lily Evans. She's going to be staying with us," said James, smiling. "MOMMY! JAMES HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" yelled the small boy. A head poked out of the kitchen, which was just down the hall from the entrance. A woman with short blond hair came rushing out. "James!" said, pulling James into a hug. She was a little bit shorter than James. "Aunt Marlene, this is Lily Evans, my _friend_" said James, emphasizing on the word friend. "Sure she is, honey," said Marlene. She then gave Lily a hug. Mr. Potter, a tall man with the same messy black hair as his son, came in and gave his son a hug. "Hello, you must be Lily Evans," said Mr. Potter, holding out his hand. Lily shook it. "Hello," she replied. "Where's Phil?" asked James. "He's in his room reading a book again," said Marlene, shaking her short hair. James laughed. "Here let me give you a tour of the house," said James. "James, before you go, I asked the house elves to put Lily and your stuff in your room, so don't worry about them," said Mrs. Potter. "Why, I'm sleeping with James?" asked Lily. Mrs. Potter nodded. "Unfortunately, we didn't know that Joe and Marlene were coming. They just sort of showed up. So, all the guest rooms are taken," said Mrs. Potter. "I figured you two wouldn't mind, but if they's a problem, don't hesitate to tell me, okay?" asked Mrs. Potter. James and Lily nodded. "What size bed do you have?" asked Lily. "Queen," said James. Lily nodded. "Okay, I guess it'll be just like at school," she said.

James's house was pretty big. He showed her the kitchen, which was joined to the dinning room. He showed her the living room, which had a beautiful fireplace made of oak. Lily noticed the floo powder pot close by. James brought her to what he and Sirius called "Parents wing" which had a big bathroom, a library, a guest room (where Joe and Marlene were staying) and James's parents room. They went back downstairs only to go up another level of the house. James and Sirius called this part of the house "Marauder's wing" because it had four guest rooms, two of which where Sirius and Remus usually slept in and the other two James's cousins were in, a library, James room and a bathroom. Phil and David were using the two guest rooms. James told Lily that his library contained different books than his parent's. "My parents have books on the dark arts, Auror books, romance books and stuff like that," said James. "How do you know they have romance books?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrow. James blushed, which he didn't do often. "Well, I...um... Remus found them really," lied James. Lily laughed. "Somehow I don't think Remus really needs to read them. Perhaps he got them for you?"she asked. James smiled. Remus had pulled some out for James to read. Remus was coaching James how to be a gentleman that summer and thought that if James read some romance novels, he's learn a few tricks. He was right. "My library had my old school books, some Quiditch books and a bunch of other books," said James, trying to change the subject. James knocked on one of the closed doors. "Phil, you in there?" he asked. The door opened and a boy about 15 came out. He was tall and had brown hair that covered his blue eyes. "James, how are you?" asked the boy. "Not bad Phil. Meet Lily Evans," James said to his cousin. Phil stared at Lily. "Hi, I'm James's cousin Philip," he said, sticking out his hand. Lily smiled and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Lily," she said. "She mine," whispered James in his cousin's ear. "I do not belong to you!" said Lily, hearing James's comment. Lily and James laughed.

"So, James, did you show Lily the hot tub?" asked Mr. Potter. James looked puzzled. "We have a hot tub?" he asked. "Your mother didn't tell you?" asked Mr. Potter. James shook his head. "So we have a hot tub?" asked James. "Yes, we do. I don't suppose you brought your bathing suit Lily," said Mr. Potter. Lily shook her head. "My house is connected to the floo network in summer and for Christmas," she said. "I could go get it." Mr. Potter nodded. "You and James can go to your house while I finish supper. We're having chicken and rice," said Mr. Potter. Lily nodded and she and James went into the living room.

"So, I'm guessing you know how to use floo powder," said James. Lily nodded. "I'll go first, then you can follow," she said. She grabbed some floo powder and stood in the fireplace. "Number 4 privet drive!" she yelled, then threw the floo powder. She spun in green flames for a moment, then landed at her house. She got out of the fire place and dusted the ashes from her jeans. James came moments later.

"So where's your bathing suit?" asked James. "In my room, where else?" replied Lily. James chuckled. Lily and James went up the stairs. Lily's room was the third door on the left. They walked in and Lily smiled. Her cat was sleeping on her bed. "Hey, Ginger," she said to the cat. The cat opened it's eyes and meowed. Lily picked her up and smiled. The cat licked her face. James laughed. "Your cat and you have the same color hair, you know," said James. Lily laughed. She put her cat down and it ran out of her room. Lily picked up her bathing suit and followed the cat to the back door. Lily opened the door and let the cat out. "Ready to go?" asked James. Lily nodded. "We better leave before my neighbor comes to see why the cat is out," said Lily. They walked towards the fireplace and Lily picked up a pot on the floor. All of a sudden, they heard a knock on the door. "Oh no," whispered Lily. "Mrs. Solway must have seen Ginger go out." James thought for a moment. "We'll go together," he said. "You mean like leave at the same time?" asked Lily. James nodded. "That way we won't get caught," he said. Lily nodded. They both got in the fireplace and James grabbed the floo powder. "213 Delver lane!" said James. Lily held on to James as they swirled around in the fire.

They got back to the Potter house and smelled the delicious food. Lily and James went into the kitchen to help set the table.

**Author's note: Next one I promise will have some Lily and James action. I swear. I had this amazing brain blast so I have to use the romance for the next chapter. Review please. Tell me what you think so far. And thanks to all my reviewers! **


	13. Confessions

Chapter 13 Confessions

Lily and James were laughing and talking as they went down to breakfast.

"My sister's boyfriend looks like a whale and his parents live in Wales," said Lily.

James laughed. "So it's a whale living in Wales? How appropriate," said James.

He sat down next to Lily, who had stopped laughing. Her face was white and she clutched the newspaper so tight her knuckles were almost as pale as her face. James gently pried _The Daily Prophet_ from her hands and looked at it. A frown appeared on his face.

"_Attack in London,_

_A Muggle house in London, belonging to the Evans family, was hit by a malicious spell yesterday. Luckily, The Evans's household was empty because the various family members were away on holiday, albeit at separate locations. A spokesman for the Ministry of Magic speculated that their youngest daughter Lilian, currently attending Hogswart School For Witchcraft and Wizardry, was the main target; he also said there was evidence that He-Who-Must--Not-Be-Named was involved and might even have been at the scene.. A Muggle neighbour saw strange men outside the house and called the police - Muggle law enforcers. Ministry officials arrived, but attackers had already left. The house was a disaster. The Ministry spokesman speculated that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was given a false tip and the house was hit by accident. More on page 3"_

The picture accompanying the article showed smoke coming out of several windows.

James stared at this. "The knock," said Lily. "It was him."

James gulped. "It's a good thing we left when we did," he said. Lily nodded. "You know, Lily, now that everyone knows you weren't home, they'll be asking were you were," said James, with a smug grin on his face.

"If I told them I was here, they would jump to the conclusion that we've been going out," said Lily.

James thought for a moment. "That's not such a bad idea," he said.

Lily laughed. "In your dreams," she said. "Besides, why give away my location to Voldemort? You'd be endangering your family."

"Oh, right," James admitted; suddenly the joking was no longer funny. Then a smile suddenly possessed his face, as he realized that no one else was home. "How about we go in the hot tub?" It was more a distraction on Lily's part than for his own pleasure in seeing Lily in a swim suit.

"How about no?" She was a little shy to let James see her in her swimsuit.

"Aw, come on. It'll be fun!" He was trying to drag her towards the stairs but she stood her ground. When he noticed she wasn't budging, he tried Sirius' famous puppy eyes.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right. I'll get changed in the bathroom," she said, pushing past James to go up the stairs. He gladly followed.

----

"Ready?" asked James, knocking on the bathroom door standing in his trunks.

Lily came out in a green bikini, a blush spreading over her uncovered body. "This is the only one I could find..." she said, shifting uncomfortably on her suit.

James grinned. "Well, I like it," he said, checking out Lily's body. He didn't know that Lily was doing the same thing...

"Wow, the water is really hot," said Lily.

"Well, duh, it is a HOT tub!" said James.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I've been in hot tubs before," she said.

"With whom?" asked James, becoming a bit jealous. Who else had seen this body of hers?

"My sister when we went on vacation a few years ago," she said.

"Oh," said James, feeling silly for letting the green monster get the better of him.

"What I meant was that it's hotter than usual," she said. "Being magic, I suppose, you don't have to put in thermostats to cap the temperature.".

"Well, you can take off your bathing suit," said James with a wink. Lily ducked him. "Ow, what was that for?" he sputtered after coming back up.

"Because you're a pervert," she said.

"But that's why you love me!"

Lily laughed. "Sure..." she said, rolling her eyes.

"I can take off my bathing suit if you want," said James, set against being ducked again..

"Oh, I'm sure you can. But I would leave this hot tub without my brain scarred for life," said Lily, pretending to be disgusted at the thought.

On Christmas morning, James woke up early. He watched Lily sleep with a smile on his face. "Am I that interesting that you have to watch me sleep?" she asked, her eyes still closed. James smiled.

"Merry Christmas," he said.

Lily opened her eyes. "Merry Christmas to you too," she said, leaning off the side of the bed to get a better look at him. "I'm warning you, James Potter, if you dare to try and catch me under the mistletoe, you'll get my fist in your mouth."

James laughed. "I'd rather your tongue thank you," James said cockily. Lily threw her pillow at him.

"Hey!" he said, throwing a pillow back at her.

Lily and James went downstairs to the drawing room to find Phil and David sitting on the couch.

"Good, you're up, we want to open presents," said Phil.

Lily laughed. "Me too," she agreed

"David, why don't you go wake up our parents?" said James.

"Okay!" said David, running out of the room. A few minutes later, the four adults walked in, followed by a smiling David. "Presents!" he yelled. Everyone laughed. "Okay, open your presents," said Mrs. Potter, yawning.

Lily organized all of her presents next to her and started to unwrap them. Kay had given her a book on the way Italians romance one another. Lily laughed. It was just like her friend to send her something like that. She unwrapped Alice's present and found a silver ring with the initials "L.E. + A.L. + K.S. BFF" inscribed on it. Lily smiled. She opened her sister's package only to find a pair of black socks, which she quickly discarded.

She opened the package from Mr. and Mrs. Potter and found a beautiful green sweater. She saw James unwrapping a present wrapped up in the same paper as hers, and pulling out a gold and red sweater.

Lily opened the last package. Inside were a letter, a necklace and a pair of earrings with diamond lilies on them. Lily opened the letter.

"_To Lily,_

_I saw these in the store a while back and thought of you. They are lilies for my Lily. I hope you like them._

_Love,_

_James_"

Lily smiled and looked at James. He was smiling at her.

"So, we have more relatives coming about 1 and staying 'til about 8. My parents are cooking geese and potatoes for Christmas dinner and if I don't stop talking about food, I'll start to drool. We do this every year," said James, as they were putting away their presents in their trunks.

"Okay, and thank you again for the necklace," said Lily.

"Lily, I told you it's nothing," James said.

"But it must have cost a fortune!" said Lily, fingering the necklace on her neck.

"Lily, I would give up all my gold to make you happy," said James.

Lily blushed. She put the sweater in her trunk and found her parents' gift. "Oh, I forgot about this," said Lily. She opened the package and found a beautiful green dress. It was ankle length and had a gold ribbon around the waist. "Wow," she said.

"Lily, you have to wear that today," said James, eyeing her dress.

"But it's too fancy!" she protested.

"No, it's not. It's perfect!" said James.

Lily smiled. "Okay," she said. James looked at the clock. It was already 11. "So what did your friends give you?" Lily asked.

"Sirius got me a model of my broom, Remus gave me a book and Peter sent me some sweets from Germany," said James.

"What's the book about?" asked Lily.

James turned red a gulped. "Something," he said. Lily raised her eyebrow. "I'll tell you at the right time," he assured. "What did your friends give you?"

"Alice got me a ring and Kay got me a book about Italian romance," said Lily.

"Need someone to practice on?" asked James.

"Not at this moment, no," said Lily, laughing at James, who was pouting.

-----

"You look absolutely beautiful," said James, looking at Lily come out of his room in her dress.

The red-head blushed. "Thanks," she said. James watched her curls bounce as she went down the stairs.

"I see that you're wearing the necklace and earrings I gave you," said James.

Lily nodded.

"Wow, Lily, you look beautiful," said Mrs. Potter, as Lily and James walked into the kitchen.

"Thank you Mrs. Potter, but is it too fancy?" asked Lily.

"No, it's just right for the occasion," said Mrs. Potter, who had on a purple skirt and a white shirt. Lily smiled.

"What about me?" asked James, posing to look like a super hero. Mrs. Potter and Lily laughed.

"James, you'll always be handsome in my eyes," said Mrs. Potter. James smiled.

----

After everyone had arrived, James introduced Lily to the newcomers, all of them relatives.. Lily was awed by the sheer size of his family. Lily had no aunts or uncles because her parents had no siblings. Lily's grandparents had passed away a long time ago, so at Christmas she had only the immediate family to talk to...

James on the other hand, had three aunts and two uncles, each with two children. James' Aunt Mira was tall and had black hair and green eyes. Her daughter, Francine, and her son, Albireo- nicknamed Al for short-, were 7-year old twins and looked like their mother.

James other aunt and uncle were Nadine- who was short and had blond hair with brown eyes- and Eridanus- who had jet black hair with hazel eyes. Lily thought that he could be James' older brother. Their son, Greg, was 12 and their daughter, Lyra, was 9. Both had blond hair but Greg had blue eyes whereas Lyra had brown.

Lily had already met Joe and Marlene along with David and Phil, so no introduction was needed. She felt relieved that there were no more relatives who would give her a once-over to make sure she was good enough.

Lily enjoyed meeting James's family, even though most came to the conclusion that she and James were dating or worse..

After supper, Francine, Al and Lyra wanted to had a snow ball fight. Greg, Phil, David, Lily and James followed them outside. It was starting to get dark.

"Okay, so here's what we'll do. We'll split everyone up, so there's two teams. We each have 5 minutes to prepare. Who wants to be captain?" asked James.

"I think that you and Lily should be captains. You are the oldest," said Lyra.

James nodded. "Good idea," he said.

After the teams were separated -James, Lyra, Phil and David against Lily, Greg, Al and Francine- they went to different ends of the yard.

"Okay, we should all go against someone who's around our own age. For example, Greg, you can go after Phil," said Lily. Her team nodded.

"Okay, we'll all pick one person to snow-attack on. I pick Lily," said James.

"I'll go for Greg," said Phil.

"David and I will work as a team to bring down the twins," Lyra pipped in. Everyone nodded.

"Ready, set, go!" yelled James, running towards Lily with a snowball. She threw him one in the face. He quickly whipped it off and threw one that hit her arm.

Then things got weird. James got out his wand and made his snowball zigzag around like the Quidditch Snitch. Lily thought of an even better trick. Secretly drawing her own wand, she sent her snowball around a wide loop, finally zeroing on James from behind. It hit his head and disintegrated, flowing down the inside of his coat.

"That's COLD!" he yelled, hopping up and down, trying to get the snow out which made Lily laugh. James turned around to face her.

"No, that was cool!" Lily shouted back..

James started to run after Lily. "Come back here!" he yelled at her.

"No!" she yelled, but James was too fast for her and he caught her. Unfortunately, he was running so fast that when he caught Lily, they both fell down. It was like one of those American games she had seen on the telly, where people were always tackling each other.

James was now sitting on Lily. "Get off," she said, trying to push him off. James shook his head. Lily pinched him and he jumped off.

"Ow!" he growled. Lily smiled. James put out his hand to help Lily up. She took it and James pulled on her. He pulled too strong and she flew into his arms. Their lips connected as he held her firmly. She was stunned for a moment before she pushed him away and ran inside.

"Oh, god! Oh god! Oh god!" the mantra was being repeated so much that Lily didn't even have to think about it anymore. "God, Lily! What's wrong with you?" she asked herself, sitting cross legged on the bed.

"There is nothing wrong with you," said James, walking in the room. Lily felt tears in her eyes. "Lily, I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked. James looked at his feet, and mumbled something. "What?" asked Lily.

James took a deep breath. "I said..." he started, but they were interrupted by Mrs. Potter.

"James, come down here! Everyone is ready to leave!"

"Coming!" he yelled to her. "I know my cousins would be disappointed if they couldn't say bye to you," said James. Lily followed James solemnly down the stairs.

Lily and James went to bed that night without talking to each other. James really wasn't sure why he had kissed her. He was in love with her, that he knew, but he couldn't figure out why he wasn't able to restrain himself like all the other times. When they had been dancing, he had wanted to kiss her, but he hadn't. When he held her tight in Hogsmeade, he had wanted to kiss her, yet he hadn't. Why now?

The next morning, Lily slipped out of bed early. Sighing, she looked at the clock. It read 8:00 am. It was early for her. She needed to take a walk. She wrote a note to the still sleeping and snoring James telling him where she was going and dropped it on him as she passed his cot..

She quietly crept downstairs and grabbed an apple, then walked towards the door. She had on a pair of jeans, with a turtleneck and her long green jacket. She put a hat on her head, and her scarf, then proceeded outside.

She munched on her apple as she walked. She found a little park after 10 minutes. It had some swings, monkey bars, a seesaw and a jungle gym. Lily sat on the swings, remembering the time Petunia had pushed her so hard that she fell off and lost her first tooth. Lily smiled at the fond memory. She swung for a bit, then went to sit on top of the monkey bars. She heard someone walking, but Lily continued to stare at the sky.

James came to lie down next to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hullo," she replied. "About last night," she started to say, but James cut her off.

"I'm sorry I kissed you. I know you don't feel the same way about me, but I just couldn't resist," he said.

Lily bit back a smile. "And how do you feel about me?" she asked.

James took a big breath then sighed "Lily Evans, I really really like you." A chuckle of unbelief emitted from the red head. "Okay fine. I love you. I love everything about you. The way you smile and the way you laugh. I love the way you twirl with your hair when you're nervous or you stick out your tongue when you concentrate. It tears me up inside when I see you with other boys or yell at me or slap me. It hurts to love you, Lily because I know you'll never love me the way I love you," said James.

Lily already knew he loved her, but she didn't know how deep his feelings were. "You... I...uh..." stuttered Lily.

James gave her a tiny smile. "I love you, Lily Evans," he said, "but I don't expect the feeling to be returned."

"James, there's something I have to tell you," she said. She didn't know what was happening. Her heart seemed to be taking over. "I have to tell you... COLD!" she yelled, jumping off the monkey bars as a giant snowflake fell on her already cold face. Lily looked around. She realized a storm was starting. "James, we have to get back to your house. There's a storm coming," said Lily.

James jumped down. "You're right," he shivered, "it's getting cold," he said.

As they walked back to James house, he felt some wet snow fall. He and Lily were getting wet. "_I bet she wanted to tell me that she's in love with someone else. She would never be in love with me. She's told me that she would never fall for me. Maybe she changed her mind? Probably not,"_ thought James, who was now frowning. He spilled out the contents of his heart to a girl who he thought didn't feel the same way as him.

When they got back to the Potter's house, James and Lily were cold and wet. "Mum!" yelled James.

Mrs. Potter rushed in the hall. "James dear! What happened?" she asked.

"There's a storm out there," said James, pointing outside.

"We got caught in it," Lily added.

"Well, get those clothes of immediately! I'll send Ruby upstairs in 10 minutes with some hot soup," said Mrs. Potter.

James and Lily went upstairs to James room and Lily grabbed some clothes. "I'll go change in the bathroom," she said. James nodded.

5 minutes later, Lily walked back into James' room and saw him in his bed, with many blankets on him. "Come in, we can warm each other up.". Lily was hesitant in getting in the bed with him. They had of course done it plenty of times at school, but had always justified by referring to the attacks in her room. "I won't bite!"

Lily got into the bed and snuggled up close to him. "Thanks," she said. A few minutes later, Ruby, a house-elf wearing an apron, came up with some hot chicken soup.

"Here, masters," squeaked the young house elf.

Lily smiled. "Thank you very much Ruby," she said.

The house elf blushed. "No need to thank Ruby miss. It's Ruby's job."

Lily smiled. "I still want to thank you," she said. The house elf smiled and walked out of the room.

James and Lily ate their soup in silence. Lily's insides were burning with James confession. She had always thought that this was a game. Get the one who rejects you. But James stared into her eyes the whole time and Lily saw the sincerity in his eyes. She knew she had to tell him.

She looked over to tell James her confession but saw him already sound asleep, his empty soup bowl on the bedside table. Lily put her soup bowl on the other table and fell asleep.

----

She woke up one hour later to find James staring at her. She yawned. "James, there's something I have to tell you..." started Lily, but Mrs. Potter came into the room.

"Oh, good! You're awake," she said, then eyed them suspiciously. She regarded the fact that her son was in the same bed as the red-head, but she was too worried about their health to inquire further. "Take this potion so that you don't catch a cold." She pushed a potion in James and Lily's hands. "Drink up!" she said.

Lily took a sip and almost choked. "Yuck! It tastes like cough medicine!" said Lily, with shivers running up her spine.

Mrs. Potter smiled. "The worse it tastes, the better it is," she said. James and Lily handed back their empty glasses to Mrs. Potter, who then left the room.

"So, Lily, what is it you wanted to tell me?" asked James.

Lily blushed. "Um,.you know what you said at the park? Did you really mean it?" she asked.

James looked stunned. "You don't believe me? Lily, I love you, you should know that by now. I have always loved you and I always will," he said.

Lily smiled. "Me too," she said quietly. James stared at Lily for a few minutes and blinked furiously.

"You mean..." he said.

Lily smiled. "Yes, James. I love you too," she said, a deep crimson blush on her face.

James's face lit up and he grabbed her face, kissing her without regret.

**Author's note: Okay, so there's the romance I promised. Don't worry, it'll get better. I know it's not much of a love story so far, but it will get better soon. I hope you like it. It's not one of my best chapters, but I wanted Lily to finally admit she loved James! Yay!**

**A/N: Being Re-typed.**


	14. The New Year Kiss

Chapter 14 The New Year Kiss

"Lily, you are beautiful. I hope you know that," said James, as Lily woke up the next morning.

Lily smiled. "I'm so glad that we're together," she said, bending over the bed to give him a kiss on the nose.

James grinned. "I love you," he said, happy he was finally able to tell her that.

Lily laughed. "I know! You've told me that like 10 times since yesterday."

James gave her a big smile. "Well, I want the whole world to know I love you!"

"James, why don't we keep this a secret for a while?"

James frowned. "Why?"

Lily smiled. "Don't you think that maybe everyone will wonder how I went 'home' single, only to return and be your girlfriend?"said Lily.

James nodded his head slowly. "So, what your saying is that when we get back to school, ask you to be my girlfriend and you'll say yes?" asked James.

Lily smiled mischievously. "Maybe."

She gave James a kiss, before rushing past him out of the room. She was followed closely by James, who wanted to tickle her.

"Ah! The love birds are finally awake!" said Marlene.

Lily blushed and James smiled. "We are not love birds," said James.

"Sure," Marlene replied, a goofy smile on her face. But the look in her eyes made Lily feel uneasy; the look was almost cold...

---

"So, Lily, what else do you want to do today except snog me senseless?" asked James.

Lily laughed. "You think I want to snog you senseless?" she asked, playfully.

"What, you don't?" A pout formed on his face.

"Well, I haven't had much of a choice..." she joked, loving the look on James face. Lily giggled. "You look cute when you're confused."

James smiled. "Only when I'm confused?"

Lily sighed. "Fine! I think you always look cute," she said.

James laughed. "And I always think you're beautiful." A blush rose to her cheeks. He kissed her neck and Lily giggled.

---

_I will kill you if it's the last thing I ever do... Mudblood_...

It was midnight and Lily woke with a start, sweat drenching her nightgown. The voice was still ringing in her mind, a voice that sounded so familiar. She involuntarily shivered, a feeling of dread passing over her.

"Lils?" A groggy voice from the cot across the room floated to her ears. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing..." Lily replied, trying to calm her beating heart.

"It doesn't sound like nothing." He was fully awake now. James sat up so he could get a better look at the red-head in his bed.

"Just a nightmare."

James got up from his bed and padded towards Lily. "You sure you're okay? You look slightly green." Lily nodded unsurely, and James lay down next to her. "Shh, just, go to sleep now." Within minutes, Lily was fast asleep again.

Lily woke up that morning, her head on James' bare chest. She turned her head slightly and saw that James was awake. "Hi," he whispered.

"Hullo," she replied groggily.

"Sleep nice?"

Lily nodded. "That tickles!" said, James, laughing.

"What does?" asked Lily.

"Your hair on my stomach," he said, laughing.

Lily giggled. "Well then, it's pay back for tickling me yesterday night," she said, nodding her head over and over again until she felt dizzy.

"Yes, it was quite fun, wasn't it," he said, after they had both stopped laughing.

"What, the fact that you stole my wand, locked the door with magic and tickled me still my sides hurt?" asked Lily.

James ginned mischievously. "That was fun."

Lily laughed. "Yes, you're right. It was fun."

----

"Hey Lily! Today is New Years Eve," said James, looking at the calendar in the kitchen. Lily glanced up.

"A new year already? It feels just like yesterday I learnt that you were Head Boy!" said Lily.

"Well, you know, a new year brings new things, such as new relationships and romances," said James, winking at Lily.

The red-head rolled her eyes. "And why would you bring up romances, unless you plan to ask me out?" said Lily, playfully.

James smiled. "Why, Miss Lily! I would have never thought of it!" James said, putting his hand over his mouth in mock horror. Lily laughed.

That evening, a party had been planned. Mrs. Potter entered the drawing room to tidy up and noticed her son and Lily sitting there, playing some Exploding Snap.

"So, James, since you are of age, you can have some champagne tonight," said Mrs. Potter.

"Lily is too, Mum," said James. Lily nodded.

"Oh really? When was your birthday?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"October 12th," said James and Lily at the same time.

Lily laughed. "Oh course James would know. He's sent me a present every year."

"Well, that's settled then! James, the neighbours will be here at 10 for the party," said Mrs. Potter, before leaving the room.

"Party?" asked Lily.

James sighed. "We have it every year, but I thought that with Uncle Joe here, Mum wouldn't do it," he said. "It's not fancy or anything. That white skirt you have and a tee-shirt or something will do."

Lily looked at him curiously. "How did you know I have a white skirt in my trunk?" she asked.

James blushed slightly. "I...tripped over it...um... last night," he said. Lily raised her eyebrow. James smiled innocently. "Come on, let's go snog before we have to get ready," said James, distracting the red-head from questioning him any further. Lily rolled her eyes, but followed James upstairs anyway.

"So, James, I see you have a girlfriend now! Congratulations!" An elderly man with white hair came through the front door that evening. He was wearing a purple robe and stars that twinkled as he walked.

James smiled. "Mr. Krans, meet Lily Evans," said James, introducing the old man to his girlfriend.

"How nice to meet you Miss Evans," said Mr. Krans, tipping his head in her direction. Lily smiled and nodded. She felt James put his arm around her waist.

As the clock ticked by, the party was getting louder. Not only because most people were drunk, but because everyone was having fun.

"So James! How are you!" asked a blonde girl, who looked about 16.

"Fine, Janelle," said James, looking around for Lily. She had gone to get them some punch.

"Let's dance," she said.

"No."

"Oh, come on! Last year you partnered me and you kissed me at midnight for the New Year!" begged Janelle.

"No," he replied, more fiercely this time.

"Please?"

"You heard him, no!" said Lily, walking up to James. The girl he was talking to looked awfully familiar. Lily guessed she had seen her in the halls of the school.

Janelle frowned. "And who are you?"

Lily smiled. "You really want to know?"

Janelle nodded.

"Okay!" Lily grabbed James' face and brought it down to hers. She kissed him long enough to make her point. "I'm his girlfriend."

Janelle stared at him opened-mouthed. "You have a girlfriend? And wait... aren't you Lily Evans?" she asked.

Lily smiled. "That's me." Lily knew for a certain now that this girl went to Hogwarts.

"You told everyone you hated James Potter! Now you love him? What is up with that?" asked the blonde.

"What does it concern you?"

Janelle stalked off, scowling.

"You know, Lily, she's the biggest gossip in Hogwarts," said James.

"We'll just say she drank too much fire whiskey," said Lily, shrugging it off.

James laughed and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Want to dance?" James asked. Lily nodded.

"This night is wonderful" said Lily, as James twirled her around.

"Glad you're having fun," said James, ignoring the icy stares from Janelle.

"Don't let her get to you," said Lily, noticing James's frown. "How about we go off somewhere?" she whispered in his ear.

James grinned. "I like the sound of that!" he said, leading Lily off the dance floor and upstairs.

As James closed the door of his room, Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and James wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. James leaned in, and kissed Lily. As James pulled away, Lily sighed happily.

"Let's go on the roof," she suggested.

"Okay, let me just get a blanket," said James, who then proceeded towards his closet and pulled out a red blanket. "Ready?"

Lily nodded and opened James's window. They both got on the balcony and scrambled onto the roof. Lily made a small fire in a jar to keep them warm. When they found a flat surface that was sturdy enough for them to sit on, she then melted some snow and sat down. James sat next to her and wrapped the blanket around them. James's arms were around Lily, and she felt very safe.

"Did you know that there's a constellation that's named Sirius?" asked Lily.

James chuckled. "Oh, yes I do know. In our, what was it... 4th year I think, Sirius found the constellation and would not stop telling everyone that he was named after a star. Soon his ego kicked in and decided that the constellation was named after him," said James, laughing.

Lily laughed also. "His ego was always bigger than yours," she said. James smiled. "The stars are beautiful, aren't they," said Lily, who was now lying down on the roof top.

"Nothing is more beautiful than you," he whispered in her ear, as he lay down next to her. Lily blushed. James looked at his watch. "You know, some people say that the person you're with when midnight strikes on New Year's will be the person you stay with for the whole year," said James.

"But weren't you with Janelle last year?" she teased.

James sighed. "Well, actually, I was hanging out with Sirius and Janelle came over afterwards and kissed me," James said.

Lily nodded. "Well, this year will be different."

James smiled. "I like the sound of that," he said, leaning in to kiss Lily passionately.

In the house, everyone was shouting "Happy New Year!" as the clock stuck twelve.

----

Lily woke up to a cold wind passing over her, making her shiver violently. She realized that she and James were still on the roof. Her ball of fire had died out, and with it the warmth of the jar, not too long ago. The sun was rising and Lily watched it rise. "Happy New Year," said James, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes.

Lily turned her head, to see James watching her. Lily smiled. "Happy New Year to you too," she said, kissing James.

"I think we should get back inside." Lily nodded. The two scrambled off the roof and got back in James's room. Lily grabbed a pair of pants and a sweatshirt. She went to take a shower.

"How was the party, Mum?" asked James, as he walked into the kitchen.

"It was fine, sweetheart. But where did you and Lily go?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"We went on the roof," James admitted. He noticed a look of disapproval on his mother's face. "Janelle was bothering us."

Mrs. Potter nodded. "I see. That Janelle girl has quite the temper. She thought I knew where you two had gone off to and she kept badgering me to tell her," she said.

James smiled. "She was pretty mad to find out that Lily was my girlfriend," said James.

"I'm sure she was. Mrs. Cahleb told me she has had quite the crush on you."

"Who has a crush on you?" asked Lily, who walked in the kitchen with her hair still slightly damp.

"Janelle," answered James.

"That's why she was so mad last night," said Lily.

James nodded. "You know, I just realized that Janelle's going to tell the whole school that I'm your girlfriend," said Lily, sitting down next to James.

James grinned. "Not if she can't remember seeing you there," he said, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Lily giggled. "You're a naughty boy," she whispered in his ear so that Mrs. Potter wouldn't hear her.

"Anything for you, love," James whispered in Lily's ear. This made Lily blush.

----

"Ready?" asked James. Lily nodded. "Okay, so I'll go over to bring her a hair ribbon she 'forgot'. Then you can hit her with the spell."

Lily nodded. "Got it."

James gave her a light kiss and ran up to the Cahlebs' house.

James knocked on the door and Janelle opened it. "Hi Janelle, I came to give you your hair ribbon that you forgot at my house," said James.

"Where's your girlfriend?" the other girl sneered.

Lily shot the spell from the bushes right then, and Janelle smiled.

"James! What are you doing here?" she asked sweetly.

"You forgot your hair ribbon at my house," he said.

"Oh right! I can't remember a thing from last night. I must have drank too much fire whiskey," she said brightly, giggling like mad as she grabbed her ribbon. She closed the door, but not before batting her eyelashes one last time.

James walked over to the bush Lily was hiding in and found her laughing silently. They both hurried back to James's house before Janelle could look out the window and spot Lily.

"That was fun," said Lily, lying down on James's bed.

James grinned. "It's called the adrenaline of pulling off a prank, love," he said.

"Well, it wasn't really a prank. We altered her memory!" A look of horror passed over her face. "Oh my gosh, we broke the law!"

"Oh come on Lily. It's not like you've never done anything to bend the law before." When he noticed the blank look on her face, his eyes grew wide. "You mean you've always been a goody two shoes?"

"Well, no... but..." A flustered Lily sighed. "Okay, so I'm a goody two shoes. Sue me."

James laughed. "So what are we going to do about the Corner problem?"

"We have a problem with a corner?" asked Lily, who was confused.

"Zach Corner," said James, loving the confused look on his girlfriend's face; a look she rarely ever put on.

Lily laughed. "Oh right!" she said. "I have a plan. This is it..."

**Author's note: I would have written what the prank is if I know what it will be. Hopefully, I'll have something marvelous for you. If you have any ideas for a prank, write them with a review. If I end up picking a suggestion from my reviews, I will put your name on which you review with, on the work. Please review!**

**A/N 2: Being Re-Typed. **


	15. Urges and Sleepovers

Chapter 15 Urges and Sleep-overs

"Lily, please let me put a charm on the door so we can have some privacy in the compartment," begged James. He had pulled down the shades on the windows, but every footstep he heard on the corridor of the Hogwarts Express made him nervous.

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes. "James! What about our friends? What if people need to talk to the Head Students? What would Mrs. Grundy think?" said Lily, who was giggling because James was kissing her neck.

"Mrs. Who?"

"Muggle expression. Mrs. Grundy is an old gossip who disapproves of anything having to do with love and romance."

"Sounds like Filch."

"Maybe they're related. And you really need to stop!" said Lily.

"Why? I love to kiss you. I need to kiss you. I have to kiss you," said James, kissing Lily passionately on the lips.

Lily pulled away and smiled. "What do you think the Head dorm is for?" she asked.

James eyes grew wide. "Of course! We'll continue this later," he said, and moved over just enough to still be able to put his arm around her shoulders.

"I think I hear footsteps," said Lily, who got up and opened the compartment door, glad to have a distraction..

"Lily! How was your holiday?" said Kay, rushing in the compartment with Alice, Frank and the Marauders.

"Oh, mostly boring. I was with Muggles the whole time. Couldn't do magic, and had to watch every word I uttered," lied Lily, remembering that she wanted to conceal that James and she had spent the holiday under one roof.

Alice opened her mouth to say something, but the whistle of the Hogwarts Express, alerting the passengers that it was time to start, drowned her out. Realizing that there was not enough room for eight people to sit in the compartment, and that they did not want to be standing when the train started, Alice suggested that the girls seek out another compartment, leaving Frank and the Marauders in this one. Lily did not like that particular division, but knew that she would be teased unbearably if she insisted on staying with James, so she followed the other girls.

"What happened?" continued Kay as they sat. "I hear your parents went off somewhere."

"You did, did you?" said Lily, feigning annoyance. "My owl seemed to have lost that message in transit somewhere. I didn't find out until I got to track 9-3/4 and found nobody there. Then I crossed over to the Muggle platform and saw an old friend name Sasha. She said that my parents had won this trip somewhere and that I would spending time with her and her family. I oughtn't complain, though. My hosts were very nice, and it's not their fault I had to keep secrets--." Her friends nodded their heads.

-----

When the couple got back to the Head's Dorm, Lily told James about her cover story, and he pulled her into a hug. "Lily Evans, I don't know what's with you, but I like it!"

Lily smiled. "What do you like?" she asked.

"Well, besides those dazzling green emeralds you call eyes, and that beautiful red hair, and your soft lips and your perfect hands, the list keeps going on, but the fact that you came up with a lie that was very convincing," said James, making Lily blush.

He pulled her towards her and both sat down on the couch. "You like that fact that I lied?" she asked.

James ginned. "Hey, what can I say? I'm a strange bird. But what do you like about me?" he asked.

"Ha! I knew that was coming! You can't forget your own importance for more than five minutes."

"Seriously.".

Lily thought for a moment. "I can't name them all!" said Lily.

"Try."

"It's impossible. I like everything about you," she said. "There's a Muggle poem: _how do I love thee, let me count the ways--"_

"Tell me at least two ways," he begged.

"Fine," said Lily, before going into deep thought. "I like... your hair, the way I can run my fingers through your hair and the way your arms make me feel so safe," said Lily, before putting her head on James's chest. James took lifted Lily's chin and stared into her eyes. The two had a staring contest until they both doubled over laughing.

----

"James, please don't embarrass me today," Lily begged as they were getting ready to leave for classes..

"How would I embarrass you, love?" he asked, as Lily ran around the central room, trying to find a book.

"Don't run your finger down my spine, or pinch me or start playing with my hair. Leave all that for when we're in private," said Lily, pulling the book she was looking for from under the sofa. It was Kay's book on Italian wooing techniques, and she hadn't read too much of it yet. Too much real-life wooing to be done.

"But I have urges," said James.

"Well leave those urges for when no one can see me blush," she said, stuffing her book in her bag.

"Fine!" said James, who picked up his bag. Both walked out of the Heads dorm at the same time.

----

"So, Lily. What's new? I mean, you totally forgot about our talk session last night," said Kay, as Lily sat next to them at breakfast.

Lily gasped. "Oh no! I'm so sorry. I fell asleep on the sofa last night reading my book."

"Which one?" asked Alice.

"The one Kay sent me," she muttered.

"Oh! Have you found someone to practice it on? I bet it was Potter! That's why you didn't come last night! Oh, is he a good kisser?" asked Kay.

Lily smiled. "No! I wasn't snogging Potter! And no I have not found someone to practice them on," she said.

"You need someone to practice snogging on? I volunteer!" said a voice behind them. Lily knew right away who it was.

"James, why are you eavesdropping?" asked Lily.

James' face was a portrait of innocence. "I wasn't dropping any eaves." A grin rose to his face. "Remember that Arithmancy problem we talked about this morning? Well I need your help again. Things aren't adding up," said James.

Lily held back laughter. "Oh, you still need help with it? Do I have to help you now?" The raven-haired boy nodded vigorously. "Oh alright! I'll come help you," she said, rolling her eyes, trying her best not to grin. "I'll see you girls in class," said Lily, before picking up her back and followed James out into the Entrance Hall.

As Lily and James walked up the stairs, the red-haired started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked James. Lily laughed harder. James rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'm okay," said Lily, who straightened up.

"Good."

"Where are we going?" asked Lily as James pulled her up the stairs.

James smiled. "You'll see."

"You better not make me late for class," warned Lily.

"Oh don't worry Lily," he said. He pulled her into what seemed to be a solid wall.

Lily glanced around with wide eyes. "Whoa, how did we get inside a wall?" She quickly realized that she and James were pressed tightly together.

"This is the secret wall. We, the Marauders that is, hide here after a prank," said James. "But I like this reason better," he added before leaning in to kiss Lily. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. "Ah! One plus one equals one. Things are adding up now!"

"Come on James! I do not want to be late for class," said Lily. She and James ran down the hallway and opened the door to the class just as the bell rang. James and Lily sat down next to their friends.

"Where were you?" whispered Alice, so that Professor Dumont, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, wouldn't hear them.

Lily fought back a smile. "Well, I had to help James with, um, Arithmancy, and I forgot to look at my watch," said Lily, who was pulling out her homework. Her friends eyed her suspiciously, but quickly returned their attention to the teacher as he began explaining the difference between different herbs to heal bites.

"James, why were you almost late? And why were you with Lily?" asked Sirius.

James could barely contain the grin that spread over his face. "I needed, um... help! Help with something," said James.

"You need help alright," muttered Peter.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily was helping you? With what?" asked Remus.

James's grin got even bigger, if that was possible. "With Arithmancy," said James.

Sirius chuckled. "If I didn't know you better, I would have said that you only made up the excuse that you needed help, just so you could get some alone time with Evans," he said.

James shook his head. "We better stop talking or we'll get detention. Professor Dumont is looking our way," said Remus. Everyone became silent.

----------------------

"James, you better get your urges under control," said Lily, as James kissed her neck hungrily in the dark corridor that evening

"I can't help myself if I need you."

Lily giggled. "James, that tickles," she said, as James kept kissing her down her neck.

"Would you prefer if I did this?" he said, then kissed Lily gently on the lips.

Lily sighed happily. "I think we should go do our rounds."

"Can't we just stay here?"

Lily shook her head. "We have to do rounds, but if you want, whenever we reach another dark hallway, you can kiss me again," she said.

"Do I also get to hold you in my arms as we walk?" he asked eagerly.

Lily laughed. "Fine, but as soon as someone comes, you have to let go," she said.

James pouted. "Let's go," she said, pulling James along behind her.

As they walked around the school, James suddenly remembered that the next night was the full moon. He would have to come up with a lie so that Lily would go sleep in the girls' dormitory with her friends. Then, he wouldn't have to worry about an extra person, and one particularly dear to him. His main concern would be his friends.

"Lily," he started, "Tomorrow, my friends and I are having a little get-together, just the 4 of us. So, I was wondering if maybe, you could, um... sleep in your old room so that I don't worry about you in the Head dorm alone?"

Lily thought for a moment and nodded. "Sure! I'm sure my friends wouldn't mind if I spent the night," she said. James sighed in relief.

"Hey girls! You don't mind if I sleep in my old bed tonight, do you? We could have a sleep-over type thing," said Lily, as she sat down at breakfast next morning, next to her friends.

"Sure! We need to talk!" said Kay.

Alice nodded. "It seems like we haven't talked for so long!"

Lily smiled. "Good, after classes today, I'll grab all my stuff that I need and I'll bring to our room," she said.

---

"I've got the Lily thing under control for every full moon. I told her that once a month, we have a sort of party, the four of us. Sort of a bonding time, or whatever. Lily bought it and agreed to sleep with the other girls," said James. Remus looked at the floor. "What's wrong?" asked James.

Before Remus could reply, Peter said, "Hurry! We've got to get to the Shack before--"

----

"So Lily, you ready to have one hell of a fun night?" asked Kay, as the 3 girls got into their pyjamas.

"I guess," said Lily.

Kay smiled. "Time to play truth or dare," she said.

Lily rolled her eyes. Kay was such a little kid at times. "Truth or dare is for 13 year olds. We are 17!" Lily said.

"So what?" asked Kay.

"Fine!" said Lily, rolling her eyes.

"Let's make it more interesting. If we think anybody's lying, we get to perform the truth spell on her," Kay said.

Lily nodded hesitantly. She knew her friends were going to ask her about James... and sure enough --

"Lily, truth or dare?" asked Alice.

"Dare."

"I dare you to kiss James tomorrow," said Alice said, after Kay whispered something in her ear.

Lily faked a groan. "Must I?"

"On the lips," added Kay.

Lily faked another groan. If only her friends knew... "Alice, truth or dare?" asked Lily.

"Truth," said the blond.

"How far have you gone with Frank?" asked Lily.

Alice blushed. "Very far."

"Meaning?" asked Kay.

"I already answered your question. It's your turn. Kay, truth or dare?" asked Alice.

"Truth," said Kay.

"Are you in love with Remus?" Alice said.

The brunette smiled softly. "I think so."

At that moment, what Remus was saying in the Shrieking Shack was not soft at all. It wasn't even human.

----

The next day, Lily caught James alone in the hall.

"Where are the Marauders?" asked Lily, trying to act as if this was more painful than it really was.

James laughed. "Stuffing their faces, of course!"

Kay and Alice hid behind a statue of a large gargoyle -which was big enough to hide the two of them- waiting to see if their red-headed friend was going to follow through on her dare.

"And what are you doing here alone?" asked Lily.

"Waiting for you, of course!" James replied, a grin on his face.

Lily smiled. She quickly kissed James on the lips and muttered "don't kiss me back."

James was confused but Lily gave him a wink, telling him she would explain later. The Quiddictch player understood and played along. A look of awe spread over his face as he pretended Lily had never kissed him before. "My, Lily! I never would have though you would be so open with your feelings!" The roguish he normally supported broke on his face. "Maybe it's time I asked you out." He winked at her and walked away.

Her friends came out of hiding, clearly waiting to laugh. As soon as James turned the corner, Kay and Alice burst into fits of laughter. "Did you see the look on his face?" asked Kay. Lily smiled.

**Author's note: I'm so sorry that this chapter was boring. I have a bit of a writer's block! I think I'll have something good for the next chapter, but no promises. My writer's block will hopefully end soon! Thanks so much for all the reviews!**

**A/N 2: Being re-typed.**


	16. Scare, truths & dances

Chapter 16 Scare, truths & dances

"Alice?" asked Lily. She came into the bedroom that she was sharing with her friends, and saw the girl crying on her bed.

"Lily!" the blond sobbed.

Lily rushed over to give her friend a hug. "Alice, what's wrong?" asked Lily.

Alice sobbed harder. "I think I'm pregnant."

Lily gasped. "What? How did this happen? Well, I mean, I know how it probably happened but..." Lily started rambling.

"Lily--"

"And you're so young! Is Frank the possible father? Oh my god–"

"Lily!" Alice shook the red-head from her ramble.

"Well, this is... just a shocker," said Lily.

"I know. I hope I'm not. I'm a few days late and I'm not feeling very good," said Alice.

"Did you tell Frank?" asked Lily.

Alice nodded. "He told me that if I am pregnant, right after school ends, we'll get married and he already has a house that he inherited from his grandfather," said Alice, with more tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay, that's a start. Did you buy a pregnancy test?" asked Lily. She suspected that witches might not use the everyday Muggle test, but they'd have some magical alternative, probably even more reliable.

Alice nodded, showing Lily the box on her night table. "I'm to scared to do it by myself." The way she was shaking, Lily had no doubt of it.

"I'll be here, okay?" said Lily, giving her friend yet again another hug.

"Okay." She took a deep breath and stood up, grabbing the test. A few moments later, she came out of the loo, the little stick in her hand.

"I'm too scared to look at the results," she admitted, handing Lily to test.

Lily took a deep breath and looked. She smiled. It was a negative. "You're not pregnant," said Lily.

Alice smiled. "Oh good! I'm not ready to be a mother just yet," she said. "I'm going to tell Frank," she added, going down the stairs. Lily followed her down and saw her walk up to Frank and motion to go outside the common room. Lily was relieved her friend wasn't going to be a mother just yet.

---

"So, James, we are having a party in the Head's dorm tonight, now that it's been exorcised?" said Sirius, as he and James played wizard chess in the common room, oblivious of the drama going on a few feet away..

"Check -- mate," said James.

"So we can? Awesome!" said Sirius.

James laughed. "No, Checkmate!" Sirius looked down and saw that James had indeed won.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius cursed. "But we can still have the party right?" he added, giving James his famous puppy-dog eyes that he did so well.

James laughed. "I'll have to ask Lily but I'm sure it'll be fine," he said, then saw Lily coming down the stairs. "There she is now. I'll go ask her."

He walked towards Lily and smiled. "Hey, Lily. Would you mind if Sirius, Remus, Peter and I have a party in our central room? It's Saturday, so no class tomorrow," said James.

Lily laughed. "So you don't need help any more?" A grin rose to her face. "Okay, as long as Alice, Kay and I get to come," said Lily.

"I still need help with Arithmancy, but I can get help later," he said, winking.

Lily blushed and nodded. "It's fine with me." James gave her a quick hug and walked back to his friends. Lily rolled her eyes and saw Alice and Frank walk back in, looking happy and relieved.

----

"So we are going to a party that is being thrown by the Marauders?" asked Kay. She had just come back from her detention with Professor Greenland, the Arithmancy teacher, for not doing her homework -- real Arithmancy, this time.

"Yes," said Lily. "In the Head's dorm."

"What time?" asked Alice.

"I think James told me that it would be around 8 or something," said Lily.

"You know, since school has started, you and James have been getting along very well," said Alice, raising her brow slightly.

Lily blushed. "Well, I realized that James was not as big of a prat then I thought he was," she said. "_And he's a bloody good kisser too,_" she thought.

---

"Okay, so now that the whole gang is here, let the party begin!" said Sirius. He had brought up some firewhiskey, butterbeer and treats from the kitchen.

"Where did you find all of these things?" asked Kay, clearly stunned that Sirius was able to find these items.

"By a pear," he said, laughing at his own joke.

Kay looked at him quizzically. "I have to buy a pear?" she asked.

Sirius laughed. "I'll show you some time," he said, winking.

"Are you planning a date with my girlfriend?" asked Remus, coming up behind Kay and wrapping his arms around Kay's waist.

"No, mate. I was just telling her about the pear," he said, giving Remus a wink this time.

"Sure..." the werewolf replied, rolling his eyes.

The 17 year olds all sat down in a circle and Kay suggested Truth or Dare. Everyone heartily agreed, but both James and Lily were slightly apprehensive at playing. The two of them did not want to make their friends suspicious though, so they pretended to heartily agree as well.

"Truth or dare," said Sirius, turning to his raven-haired best friend.

"Um... Truth."

"Who do you love?" he asked.

James smiled. "Why, Lily Evans of course." Lily rolled her eyes. James had declared her love for her whenever they yelled at each other, so her friends might not think too much of it, but she knew he really meant it.

"Remus, truth or dare?" asked James in turn.

Remus thought. "Truth," he said, finally, gambling that none of the girls suspected his infirmity or would even ask about it.

"Is it true you love Kay?" asked James, wiggling his eyebrows.

Remus blushed slightly. "Yes," he said. It was Kay's turn to blush.

"Lily, truth or dare?" asked Remus.

"Truth," said Lily, hoping that this wouldn't be the death of her.

"What is your deepest, darkest secret?"

Inwardly, Lily cringed. She knew that eventually, someone was going to ask something along those lines, and she would be caught. It wasn't as simple as lying through your teeth and hoping they believed you, like it was playing with Muggles. Each person in the room knew had to cast a truth spell, and Lily _definitely_ wasn't ready to spill all her secrets.

Suddenly, the perfect secret popped in her mind. She knew that James wouldn't mind, and so she turned to James, who was sitting next to her, and kissed him lightly. As she pulled back, every one was gapping at them in surprise.

"That's why James has stopped fawning over you!" cried Sirius.

Peter, as always, was confused. "But I thought Lily hated James?"

Lily smiled. "I don't hate him. In fact, I realized that I loved him," she said.

"How long has this been going on?" asked Kay, curious.

"Since Christmas," James admitted proudly.

"I went over to James's house. My parents did go away though, and so James invited me to his house," said Lily, a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Oh my god! So you too are a couple?" said Alice.

Lily nodded. James wrapped his arms around Lily and sighed. "I'm glad you decided to tell everyone," he said in her ear.

"Why?" asked Lily.

"So I can do this," he said, then kissed her. As he pulled away, every one clapped.

"Okay, let's get back to the game," said Sirius.

"Okay, um..." Lily looked around the room and noticed Peter, twisting his hands around nervously. "Peter, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he squeaked out.

"Do you fancy someone?" asked Lily.

Peter turned bright red. "Yes," he stuttered.

"Who?"

"Jasmine," he said timidly. Noticing that everyone was waiting for him, he said, "Sirius, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said, grinning like a kid on Christmas.

"I dare you to dye your hair blue for one day," Peter told him. The dyed hair had been a joke ever since they had cast the mass spell on the Slytherins on Halloween.

Sirius laughed. "Okay," he said, then put his wand to his head. His hair magically became blue. Everyone began laughing. "Okay, okay," he said, trying to calm everyone down "Kay, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said.

Sirius smiled evilly. "I dare you to put green streaks in your hair for two days," he said, knowing how precious her hair was to her.

Kay grimaced, but put her wand to her head. Her hair magically grew green streaks. "Remus, truth or dare?" asked Kay.

"Truth," he said, deciding to risk it again..

"Are you a virgin?" she asked.

Remus blushed but nodded. "Yes."

"Lily, truth or dare?" asked Remus.

"Dare," she replied, feeling brave.

"I dare you to kiss James for one minute," said Remus.

James grinned. "Did I ever tell you that you are my best friend?" he asked.

Remus laughed. "Starting now."

Lily pressed her lips against James'. After a minute had elapsed, Remus told them to stop, Lily and James didn't.

"STOP!" he yelled.

James groaned. "No," he said muffled by Lily's mouth on his.

Everyone laughed. Finally, Lily pulled away and James smiled. "That was one hell of a kiss," he said. Lily blushed.

"Okay, so now that the two of you are out of kissing-land, can we continue our game?" asked Sirius.

Lily and James laughed. "Fine, James, truth or dare?" asked Lily.

"Truth."

The red-head thought desperately of what she could ask him. "Are you a virgin?" she blurted out, blushing.

"Yes, I am," he answered.

The three girls were shocked.

"One would have thought a playboy like you wasn't," said Kay.

"Well, I had never found the right girl before," said James.

"Well, have you found her?" asked Alice.

James smiled. "Yes, she's sitting in my arms," said James. Lily blushed.

"Maybe we should leave the lovebirds alone," said Sirius. James blushed and Lily blushed harder.

"It's only been a month since we've been going out!" she said.

Sirius shrugged. "I slept with a girl three days after asking her out," he said.

Lily shook her head at James, who understood the signal. "Sirius, mate, I want my first time with Lily to be special, not rushed," said James, noticing the shade of red Lily was going.

"Well, mate, do it your way," he said, shrugging.

Lily looked at her watch. "James, we'd better get going. We still have to patrol."

James nodded and Lily stood up. She and James left, leaving their friends to continue playing until they got back.

"I'm glad that our friends know that we're going out," said James.

Lily smiled. "Me too," she said. James and Lily walked hand in hand as they did their rounds.

----

"Okay, so the masquerade ball for Valentine's is next week. Do we have every thing planned?" asked James.

Lily looked at her list. "I think so... let's see, food, decorations, band," she said, reading her list.

James nodded at each point. "Yes, everything is ready. So Lily, do you have a date for the ball?" joked James.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I was thinking about maybe going with Snape..."

James lunged at her with outstretched hands and pinned her to the ground, tickling her. Once he decided that the torture was over and Lily had stopped laughing, James sighed. "You would really leave your boyfriend alone with some stupid blonde or something?" he asked, pretending to be hurt.

Lily laughed. "Do you really think I would let anyone have you but me?"

James smiled. "I would hope not," he said, who then proceeded to lean down and kiss his girlfriend softly. Lily returned the kiss with a harder one. James and Lily were having so much fun trying to out-kiss one another that they didn't notice a man walk into the room.

"Do you two ever keep your tongues in your mouths?" asked Sirius. James pulled away from Lily and they both scrambled to get up.

"Just making up for all the lost years," he said.

"Don't you mean making out for all the lost years?" asked Sirius, who then collapsed on the floor laughing at his joke.

"It's not really that funny," said Lily.

"Yes, it is," said Sirius, as he was clutching his sides.

"I can tell there is something else you want to say," said James.

Sirius nodded. "I just caught Kay and Mooney on his bed, snogging senseless," he said.

Lily smiled. Kay was finally getting the man of her dreams. Evidently the pair were NOT going all the way, or Sirius would have mentioned that too "Really? And did you interrupt them like you did us?" asked Lily.

Sirius smiled. "Maybe," he said, and at that moment, Remus and Kay burst into the Head's dorm.

"Sirius Black, I am going to murder you!" screamed Kay. She ran around the room, stretching her fingers, trying to get them around Sirius's neck. Sirius laughed as he avoided her.

"Mooney, keep your girlfriend under control," he said.

Remus shook his head. "Not this time," he said, then stuck out his foot, making Sirius trip and land on the floor.

"No fair!" cried the black haired boy on the floor.

Kay walked up to him and kicked his leg. "There, now! Do not disturb Remus and me ever again!"

Remus chuckled. "Come on Kay." Kay stuck her tongue at Sirius as they left.

Sirius sat up and rubbed his leg. "Damn woman kicks hard. She must have learnt from you, Lily." said Sirius.

Lily mimicked Kay's actions and stuck out her tongue.

-----

"Lily, are you going to get ready soon or what?" asked Kay, as she, Alice and Lily were getting ready for the ball.

Lily was still in her jeans and sweatshirt she had "borrowed" from James.

"Yes, I am," she said, before she got off the bed and took out her dress. It was a flowing green dress that had no back. Instead, it had golden strings that cris-crossed. It had small golden sparkles all down the dress and a neck that dipped just right.

"That's really nice," commented Alice, as she put on her lavender dress. Her dress was long and it had mesh sleeves, a bow in the back.

Lily smiled. "Thanks," she said, then quickly put it on. She took out her wand and curled her hair. She added a small touch of make-up and put on her shoes.

"Wow, that didn't take long," Kay said, dazed.

Lily shrugged. "I don't need to get all dressed up for the dance. I have a date that thinks I'm beautiful in my jeans and his sweatshirt." Her friends looked at her quizzically, but she ignored it. Lily took out a green mask from her bag and put it on her face. It had green sequences and a gold frame around the eyes.

"Lily, you look wonderful," said Alice, trying to zipper up Kay's pink dress, which seemed to be a size too small for her. It dipped generously in the front and her back was cris-crossed just like Lily's.

Lily smiled. "Thanks. Hurry up you too," she said. She was eager to see James.

----

As Lily walked down, she noticed James right away. His hair stuck out and he was one of the tallest there. He saw her right away also. Her red hair shone vividly from behind her green mask.

"You know, it's not polite to stare and have your mouth hanging open. Plus, you're drooling slightly," said Lily, grinning sheepishly.

James quickly closed his mouth and whipped away the drool. "I was just kidding about the drooling," giggled Lily. James stuck his tongue out.

"Ready, Miss Evans?" he asked, holding out his arm.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," she said and took his arm.

---

The Great Hall had been decorated in the traditional Valentine colors, red and pink streamers hung everywhere and sparkles fell from the ceiling only to disintegrate when they reached the floor.

The jazzy band "Bubbling Cauldrons" were playing in the background and many people had already started swaying to their songs.

When James and Lily walked in, no one took a second glance at them. To everybody there, they were just another couple in masks, two more students, and no one of interest.

They quickly joined the cluster of students that had begun dancing the slow song that was playing. For the two lovers, no one else was in the room except for them. Each twirl, each spin, each glance seemed as breathtaking as the last.

After hours of dancing –most had lost the time for they were having so much fun– James and Lily got on the stage and the music stopped.

"Okay, now that the dance is over, please stand next to the person you last danced with," said Lily, as the music died down. Everyone moved around, trying to find his or her last dance partner.

Once everyone stopped moving around, James said, "Now, unmask!."

Everyone did so and a few girls screamed as they found themselves standing next to Slytherins. In return, a few Slytherins screamed at finding out that they danced with someone not from their house.

Dumbledore beamed from hiding.. His house-unity strategy had worked...

"That was just too funny! When Bella removed her mask and found out that she had been dancing with a Griffyndor, what a look on her face!" said Sirius, untying his tie. The two were cousins, both members of the ancient Black family, but obviously there was no love lost between them. The dance was still going for those who still felt like dancing.

Lily laughed. "Did you notice the look on Mark's face?"

"Who's Mark?" asked Sirius, a confused look on his face.

Lily rolled her eyes. "The guy she had been dancing with, you dolt!"

"James, your girlfriend has a mouth on her," Sirius said to James.

He laughed. "Oh, do I know it!" he said, then he wrapped his arms around Lily.

"Ugh, you too are going to go all lovey-dovey on me, so I'm leaving," he said, rolling his eyes as he went over to talk to Remus and Peter.

"Now that I have you all to myself, let's go back to the dorm. We aren't needed here anymore..." he whispered suggestively into Lily's ear.

Lily smiled. "I would like that," she said. Both sneaked away from the dance unseen.

**Author's note: What did you think of this chapter? I was kinda having a writer's block and I wrote pieces here and there. I promise that the next chapter will have some... ahem... information that I think most of you will find interesting ;) Here's a little something to keep you coming back for more:**

"_Oh no," said James. _

"_What?" asked Lily worriedly. _

"_I think I've figured out how they've been getting in your room..."_

**Ohhh! Review Review! Tell me your theory.**

**A/N 2: Being re-typed. **


	17. Pranks, Blushes & Revenge

**Author's note: Thanks melonbar92 for the idea. I changed it a bit, but it's still more or less the same idea! Oh, and if you don't think you're mature for lovers getting, well, loved, then I suggest you skip the next paragraph or 9.**

Chapter 17 Pranks, Blushes & Revenge

"So Lily, what do you have in mind?" asked James as Lily and he walked into the Head's dorm. The fire had died down slightly, making the aura in the room more romantic.

"Well, there are many things we could do," said Lily, eyeing the reaction on James's face as she walked up to him, swaying her hips slightly.

He looked as thought he was about to explode with excitement. "Such as?"

"Such as this," she said, walking slowly over to James and kissing passionately. She let her hands roam over his body, taking in the muscular form. For a moment, the raven-haired boy seemed at a loss at what to do, but his instincts suddenly kicked in and he pulled her tightly to him.

He gently lifted Lily up in his arms, as a groom would do to a bride, and brought her his bedroom. The red-head giggled as James kissed her all down her neck. He came back up and kissed her on the lips with a long and passionate kiss.

"Lily, are you really ready for this?" he asked.

Lily smiled. "If I wasn't, do you think that I would allow you to be lying on top of me?" she asked.

James gave her a goofy grin. "Well then..." he said, then proceeded to kiss Lily down her neck again. Lily continued to giggle. James took off his robes and the Lily noticed that he had not put a shirt on underneath, just a pair of pants.

James undid Lily's robe slowly, making sure not to tear it in anyway. As soon as James took off Lily's dress, he stared down at her chest. She had forgotten that she was not wearing a bra. "My, my Lily," he said. Lily blushed. "Don't be embarrassed," whispered James huskily into her ear. "I like it."

James took out his wand before he forgot and said a simple contraceptive spell. He threw his wand aside and they continued to undress one and other till they were completely naked.

-----

Lily woke up the next morning feeling exhausted, but very satisfied.

"Good, you're up. I was hoping that I didn't wear you out too badly," said James.

Lily giggled. "Wear me out? Ha! You'll have to try harder next time. I barely broke out into a sweat!" she teased.

"Oh sure you didn't," said James sarcastically.

Lily smiled. "Well, I for one am glad that we left early."

James laughed. "So am I!" he said happily.

"I have to go take a bath," said Lily, getting up from the bed and wrapping a sheet over her lithe form. She wasn't sure why she did so, since James had already seen everything there was to see. She just wasn't used to walking around the suite naked.

"How about I join you?"

Lily threw a flirtation look over her shoulder as she made her way to the bathroom "Oh, I don't know. I guess you could."

Lily laughed as James scrambled to get out of bed to join her.

----

"So Lily, have you thought of what the prank will be on Zach Corner?" asked Sirius, as the Marauders, Lily, Alice and Kay all sat down to breakfast the next morning.

No one knew of the exciting night that the couple had, and they hoped to keep it secret for a while.

"Yes, I have. But I'll tell you lot later. Too many people could eavesdrop."

Sirius pouted. "I wanted to see if James' immaturity has rubbed off on you."

Lily smiled. "Oh it has alright."

James smiled and put his arm around her waist. Sirius rolled his eyes. "Mate, I know you love her, but do you always have to have a constant hand on her?"

Remus chuckled. "Sirius, do you remember in our 5th year?" he asked.

Sirius thought for a moment and his eyes grew wide. "Oh god. I think I'm going to be sick."

He rushed out, causing all the girls to stare at him, wondering why he was running from the Great Hall.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Kay, looking from James to Remus and back to James. James and Remus laughed.

Peter was confused. "What did you say to him?"

James just chuckled. "Tell you later, Wormtail," he said. Lily was staring at her boyfriend intensely. She could tell he was up to something.

---

"What did you tell your friends?" asked Lily once the pair was alone.

James laughed. "Well, actually, it's more of a sleep-talking experience," he said, nodding his head slowly.

"Let me guess, you were having a naughty dream about me and was yelling it out in your sleep?"

James bit his lip and started to blush. "Yeah, something like that," he said slowly.

Lily smiled and shook her head. "What?" he asked.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

-----

"Okay, Lillikins, tell us the big plan," said Sirius, as they all sat down on a sofa in the Head's Dorm.

"Okay, well, it involves you, Sirius. You have to agree to do it, or it won't work," Lily said.

"Me? Well, I'm honored! I will agree to anything as long as it's reversible."

Lily grinned evilly. "Okay, well my plan is that I'm going to put a spell on Zach so that everyone he sees is a girl. Then, Sirius, I'm going to get you to go up to him and try to get him to ask you out," said Lily, loving the look on Sirius's face.

"Lillikins, I don't swing both ways!" he said, his face paler than normal, his brown eyes wide in surprise.

"Well, first of all, don't you think I don't know that? Second of all, do not _ever _in this lifetime ever call me Lillikins ever again, and thirdly, this is payback for all the times you pranked me," she countered, folding her arms over her chest.

Sirius struggled to make a good comeback. "Why don't we just put the spell on Corner, and forget all about me?" he asked, pleadingly. Every one laughed at the cute puppy dog face he was doing to Lily. "James, please tell your girlfriend not to put me in the prank!" whined Sirius.

James chuckled. "Hey Lily, why don't we put the see-a-girl spell on Corner, Malfoy and Snape? We'd be killing three werewolves with one silver bullet," he added. He cast a look at Remus to see if his comment had bother him, but the latter was laughing.

"Isn't the expression 'Killing two birds with one stone'?" asked Kay.

James smiled but shrugged. "Yes, but I changed the saying to fit the wizarding world."

Lily smiled. "I like the idea. We'll plan it for tomorrow at supper," she said. Everyone agreed and left, for it was Saturday and everyone had homework to finish.

----

"Okay, Lily, ready?" whispered James. A big grin was plastered onto Lily's face and she nodded. "Good, okay ready set...go," he said.

All of a sudden, the lights went out in the Great Hall and a spotlight appeared. Zach Corner, Malfoy and Snape all walked into the spot light, their faces contorted into a strange half-smile, with wide surprised eyes.

"I want to inform everybody that I am in love with Zackie Corner," said Snape, his face showing no expression.

"But, I'm in love with that girl," said Malfoy, his face a mirror expression to his Slytherin classmate.

"Lucia -- Severa -- I am in love with both of you," said Zach, a scary grin on his face. "We can have a threesome," he added.

Everyone in the hall erupted into laughter as the spot light disappeared, and three very confused looking students were left standing, hugging each other.

Malfoy and Snape ran out of the hall looking green while Zach doubled over and was sick on the floor. The teachers scanned the hall for the culprit or culprits, but since everyone was laughing, it was hard to figure it out.

----

"Bloody brilliant!" said Sirius, as he collapsed on the floor of the Common Room, laughing so hard he was clutching his sides.

"It was all Lily," said James, his arms around her shoulder.

"It will teach them to try and mess with us. That was such good payback for last week's affair when they tried to get our food to eat us, instead of the other way around. I was so hungry after that, I nearly died!" Sirius exclaimed.

After Lily got her congratulations from the other students, she noticed the time. "James, it's time we go do our rounds," the red-head said. The couple left the still laughing Griffyindors.

James looked at his watch as they walked away from the Fat Lady. "But we still have half an hour," he pointed out.

Lily grinned evilly. "I know," she said, then she pushed him into a broom closet.

"Wow, Lily Evans pushing me into a broom..." started James, but Lily kissed him, cutting his sentence short.

After she pulled away, James looked content. "Are you sure it's you Lils?" he asked jokingly.

Lily smiled. "It is."

"I know how to find out," he said. He started kissing her neck.

"James! You know that that tickles," she said.

James pulled away and grinned. "Yup, it's you," he said, before wrapping his arms around Lily to bring her closer and kissing her.

The door of the closet suddenly opened and light spilled into the tiny, cramped area. "Ahem, aren't the Head Boy and Girl supposed to be patrolling the corridor?" asked McGonagall.

Lily pulled away and was blushing furiously. "Yes professor," James said, pulling Lily out of the closet and down the hall.

"Oh god! That was so embarrassing!" said Lily, pacing the Head's common room. James smiled. He was sitting on the couch, watching his girlfriend about to wear a hole into the carpet.

"You don't think that McGonagall was ever caught snogging her boyfriend in a broom closet?" asked James.

"But James," she whined. "I don't want my Head Girl's badge revoked for not doing my job!"

James sighed. "Lily, do you really think that Dumbledore will take away your badge for kissing?" asked James. Lily sighed and James walked over to Lily. He put his arms around her waist.

"Come on, we should be getting to bed. We have school tomorrow," he whispered in her ear. Lily nodded and the pair reluctantly went into their separate rooms.

----

James and Lily sat in the back of Charms class together the next morning. "Remember, we are not telling anyone about what happened after the dance," said Lily, sternly.

"Fine," said James, rolling his eyes. It was probably the tenth time she had told him since that night and he knew that she wouldn't let it happen ever again if he told.

"Miss Evans, what does the _Invisablia_ spell do?" asked Professor Flitwick.

"It..." started Lily, but all of a sudden, she began to blush. James had put his hand on her lower back. "It, um... turns people... invisible," she said slowly.

"Right! 10 points to Griffendor," he said, not noticing the shade of red she was turning.

"Bet you wish to be invisible right now," James whispered in her ear.

"James, why did you do that?" she hissed.

"Because I like it when you blush." He grinned before he added, "You're also more likely to give me a make-up shag."

Her green orbs narrowed at the vulgarism.. "You are so going to pay for that," she hissed.

Once again, Lily and James sat together in the back in Transfigurations. "Are you really going to do something to me?" asked James, getting slightly worried at the grin on his girlfriend's face.

Lily just gave him a smile. "That's for me to know and for you to find out," she said. James gulped.

"James Potter! Can you tell me what the _Poissona_ spell is for?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I know this," said James. "It's where..." he started to say, but he suddenly turned beet red. Lily had placed her hand on his thigh. "It's turning someone on...I mean into a fish," said James, trying to take deep breaths.

"Yes, it is," she said, eyeing his red face, but turned back to the blackboard.

"Lily!" James said, almost painfully. Lily smiled innocently and bit her lip in attempt to not laugh.

---

"So my dear Prongs, why were you all red in class?" asked Sirius.

"Plus you said something about being turned on instead of turning into," added Remus.

Lily began to laugh. James just blushed again.

"What?" asked Peter, clearly not following the conversation.

"It was nothing," said James.

"No, we want to know," whined Sirius. James rolled his eyes at Sirius's puppy eyes. He had seen them so many times that he was immune.

"I'm not telling you," James said simply. "Hey Lily, I...um... lost my Arithmancy book. Have you seen it in the Head's dorm?"

"Not sure. I can think of one or two places -- we'd better go together to look for it."

------

"You are an evil girlfriend!" said James as they walked into the head's dorm. He chased after Lily around the common room, trying to tickle her.

"James!" she said. "Stop it!" She giggled as James sat on her stomach and tickled her sides.

"No. I don't want to," he said, grinning. "Unless, I get to snog you senseless," he added.

Lily faked a sigh. "Oh I guess," she said in a mock defeat voice. James grinned even bigger and bent down.

----

"James! I can't believe we're five minutes late!" said Lily, as she scrambled to reattach her shirt that James had started to unbutton, then refasten her robe.

"Well, I'm sorry that I love to kiss you," James said. "By the way, your lip gloss is a bit smudged," he added, trying to suppress a smile.

They quietly opened the door to Potions. Well, as quiet as a squeaky old dungeon door will open, which is really not that quiet. Okay, so scratch that. The door opened loudly.

"Miss Evans and Mr. Potter. Why are you two late?" asked the potions master, Professor Slughorn.

"Um... Head duties," lied James, glad for once that he had such authority.

Professor Slughorn nodded and James and Lily took their seat at the back. Sirius turned around from his seat directly in front of them when Professor Slughorn had turned around. "Why were the two lovebirds late?" he asked in a low tone. Then his eyes grew wide. "Oh I see. You two were getting it on in the Head's dorm!" he said.

Lily and James blushed. "We were not getting it on in the Head's dorm," said James. "Right," Sirius said nodding. Lily rolled her eyes.

----

"Now, what is more embarrassing?" asked Lily, as they snuggled up together on the couch later that night. "Being caught by McGonagall in a broom closet or being late for Potions because we were snogging on the floor?"

James thought for a moment. "Neither. What would have been embarrassing would be if McGonagall came in the Head's dorm just as we were about to do it and on top of that, be late for Potions," said James.

Lily laughed. "Yes, that would be even more embarrassing than both of those moments combined," she said.

"I'm going to go get a book in my room," said Lily.

"I'll come with you as your official bodyguard and boyfriend," said James.

Lily and James walked into her room and another message had appeared. The window was opened and a cool breeze was making Lily shiver.

" 'SINCE YOU'RE NOT DYING, I'LL HAVE TO HURT THE ONES AROUND YOU...'," Lily read, sighing. The contents of the message were less important to her than the fact that somebody was able to write it here. "I thought Dumbledore had put a protection spell or something like that around my room. How could this happen again?" Lily sighed again. "First these stupid messages, then the attack on my house--"

"We don't know for sure that this was the work of You-Know-Who."

"Doesn't really matter. It's all towards me and I choose to think it's related. I'm worried for you James, and for my friends and yours and even my parents! They must know that the best way to hurt me is to hurt the ones close to me."

James wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. He looked around the room and a realization hit him. "I think I've figured out how they've been getting in your room."

"What!?"

"Yeah, well you see, I just realized that once, when I went into your room while you were gone, a new message had appeared and the window was open. Now, another message is here, and the window is open again. I wonder..." said James, as he walked towards the window. He looked out and looked around. "Just as I thought."

"What?" asked Lily, worriedly.

"The reason is that someone has been flying up here to write the messages. The window latch is broken from the outside," said James. He suddenly realized something. "The spell, it works on keeping out non-students and teachers, and specific people that we know might try to harm us--"

"Like the Slytherins?"

"Yeah, so that means--"

"It's someone we trust," Lily concluded. James nodded his head grimly.

"From now on Lily, I want you to sleep in my bed with me. I mean literally; we won't have to Do It every night. I put spells on my window so that no one can break in, magical or not. Too many incidents in the past caused by Sirius flying into the window at 7 in the morning to wake me up," said James.

"Sirius would fly into the window to wake you up?" said Lily, momentarily distracted. James nodded. "Well, that's an original way to wake someone up."

**Author's note: Muhahahaha! James only figured out the first part! I wonder if anyone will get the clue... oopps! I said too much. Anyways, review review review! Tell me your theory! Want another cookie? Okay, here it is:**

"_Lily!" said her friends started at Lily with their mouths hanging open. _

"_But... but... why?" asked Alice, shocked at what Lily had just told them. _

"_Well, you asked," said Lily, smiling innocently. _

"_But we didn't think you would answer!" they replied in unison._

**A/N 2: Being Re-typed.**


	18. Stag by the lake

Chapter 18

Lily had a hard time falling asleep that night. She couldn't get those messages out of her head. James was sleeping soundly and Lily watched him sleep, as she had done on many occasions.

She watched his chest rise and fall, and his hair seemed to stick up even more than usual. Lily smiled. Lily never quite understood what made James, well, James. She realized now, after she became his friend and eventually his girlfriend, that James was unique. He had so many talents and quirks, all of which Lily loved. Maybe she only told herself she hated them, because deep down inside, she loved them. With that, Lily closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Lily sighed when she woke up that morning. She would be staying with her friends that evening. James was off with his friends. It was the full moon that night, and for some reason that was important for the Marauders. Maybe they had some special spell that required a lot of moonlight, and James would tell her about it some day.

"Lily, what's wrong. You seem upset!" said Alice, as Lily slumped into the girls' dormitory later that day.

"I'm just so tired," she said.

"Oh, did you spend the morning making out with Potter?" asked Kay.

Lily laughed. "No, I did that last night." Lily then shrugged. "I'm just really tired."

Her friends laughed. "Go get some sleep on your old bed. We'll go find some things in the kitchen for tonight," said Kay, knowing where the kitchen was now hidden thanks to Remus. Lily mumbled something before dozing off into a dreamless slumber.

-----

"James, are you sure you want to do this?" asked Remus.

"Remus, you are my best mate. We've been doing this since our 5th year. Just because I'm with Lily now doesn't give you the right to ask me if I want to do this," retorted James.

Remus sighed. "I know, but if I were to ever hurt you in some way and you would die, I would feel so guilty," Remus replied somberly.

"Remus Lupin! Never ever say anything like that ever again or so help me I will curse you," James said with all seriousness, but both knew that he was kidding.

Remus smiled. He was glad to have such good friends. They risked many things to be there for him, in his time of need.

"Ready?" asked Sirius, coming up behind the two. Remus nodded. Peter turned into a rat and pressed the knot on the tree. The Whomping Willow shook slightly then froze. James and Sirius led Remus into the small tunnel and brought him to the Shrieking Shack.

Remus sat down on the bed and sighed. Sirius gave his friend a smile before turning into the shaggy black dog that was Padfoot. James nodded encouragingly towards his friend before transforming into the beautiful white stag that was Prongs.

After a few minutes, Remus started to shake. He screamed in pain as his nose became wolflike and his body sprouted brown hair. Claws shot out of his knuckles. Remus' screams turned to howls of pain. His transformation was complete. His friends braced themselves for the long night they were about to endure.

----

Lily woke up just as her friends returned from the kitchen with cookies, crisps, butterbeer, firewhiskey, milk and a bunch of other pastries and candies. "Think we have enough food?" joked Lily, who rubbed her eyes.

"Damn! I knew I was forgetting something!" said Kay.

"What?" asked Alice, dropping a few of the candies on the floor from her over-filled hands.

"The ice cream!" Kay exclaimed.

Lily laughed. "Kay, it's in your other hand."

Kay looked down and saw that Lily was right. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I guess I forgot," she said sheepishly. Lily quickly conjured up a cooler to keep it in so that it wouldn't melt. "Thanks Lily. So, did you have any steamy James dreams?" asked Kay, who constantly wanted to know all the details of Lily and James's relationship.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out," replied Lily.

Kay laughed. "A girl can only hope."

Alice chuckled. "Speaking of steamy dreams, what was the one you were having last night about Remus?" she asked teasingly.

Kay turned bright red. "Like Lily said, that's for me to know and you to never find out."

Lily laughed. "Well, now Alice. You're the last one. Any steamy dreams about Frank?"

"Why dream when I have the real thing?" said Alice. The girls laughed.

"Lily, I need to know: Is James as good of a kisser as all the girls say he is?" asked Kay, as the three girls sat on their beds, eating cookies.

Lily smiled. "Better," she replied.

"Oh, I see. And how big is it?" asked Kay, winking, trying to embarrass Lily.

"Big enough," she replied, trying to hold back a laugh.

Kay's eyes grew big. "You are talking about his manhood right?" replied Kay. Lily laughed and nodded. "Oh, so you slept with him!"

"And don't make up the excuse 'I saw him changing!' or something like that," added Alice.

"Okay, yes I slept with him and it was bloody fantastic!" Lily sighed, remembering the intimate moment from just a week ago.

"Lily!" said her friends, staring at Lily with their mouths hanging open.

"But... but... why didn't you tell us?" asked Alice, shocked that Lily hadn't told them.

"Well, you never asked," said Lily, smiling innocently.

"But we didn't think you would answer if we did ask!" they said.

"Well, you two were pestering me, I thought I should tell you the truth so you would stop it," said Lily.

Her friends looked at one and other and rolled their eyes. "You're right. We will never ask something that intimate again," said Kay. Lily laughed.

----

James took a break from watching Remus. He trotted down towards the lake and found a spot that was unfrozen. It was the end of March, technically springtime, but still quite cold at Hogwarts' latitude. He took a sip of the icy cool water. He dipped in his right arm, which was his front leg at the moment. It felt very good against the cut he got from Remus.

James sighed and looked up at the girls' side of the Gryffindor tower. He could see his red-head looking out, though of course she did not recognize him as a stag. He smiled to himself. She was fine. James let out a sigh of relief and went back to drink. A twig snapped and James lifted his head.

Sirius came bounding out of the forest, as the shaggy black dog. He took a sip of water from where James had been drinking moments before. Sirius looked up at his friend, who was looking back to the tower.

Before he could interrupt James's watching, another twig snapped. Both animals lifted their heads fast and out came Peter, in his rat form. He nudged his head, indicating that he needed help and the three animals bounded off into the forest.

----

Lily and her friends took a break from their partying and Kay went to get more food with Alice.

Lily looked out the window. By the lake was the most beautiful stag she had ever seen. The stag was white and Lily felt calmed by its sight. She found it strange that this stag reminded her so much of James. She noticed it seemed to have a cut on its leg because it kept dipping it into the water.

She was about to go get her omniculars when the stags head suddenly shot up. Out of the forest what seemed to be a big shaggy black dog came bounding out of the forest. The dog stopped at the stag and began to drink water from the lake. She had seen that dog a few times on the grounds of the school. Mostly at night, but a few times she had seen it playing with James and Remus.

"Maybe it belongs to one of them," thought Lily. She watched the stag and the dog for a few more moments, when she noticed that their heads' seemed to shoot up again and a small animal came out of the forest.

Because it was so small, Lily couldn't make out what the animal was, or even if it really was a animal at all, but she noticed that the two animals and what seemed to be the third rushed into the forest. Lily sighed as she watched them run into the forest.

"Lily, what are you looking at?" asked Kay, as her and Alice came back in from their second kitchen raid.

"There was a stag and a dog out by the lake," Lily replied.

"How cute!" Alice said, putting down the food from her hands onto the floor. "Think we have enough food?"

Lily smiled and sat down next to her friends.

----

James, Sirius and Peter walked into the common room early that morning. They had just put Remus in Hospital Wing, and they needed some sleep. As quietly as they could, they went up the stairs and went into the Marauders' room.

James lay down on his old bed and fell asleep instantly.

-----

"Hey Lily, I missed you," said James, kissing Lily on the forehead before sitting down to eat lunch.

"Hey James. I missed you too," she said. James piled so much food on his plate, it was enough for 2 meals. He had missed breakfast after all. "James, how can you eat all that food without gaining a pound?"

James gave her a grin. Lily scrunched up her nose. James had food all over his teeth. After swallowing his food, he said, "I find ways to burn it off." He winked at Lily, and she blushed.

She bit her lip trying not to laugh. "I'm sure you do," she said, smiling.

"I think I'll burn it off later tonight, if you want to help me," he said.

Lily sighed. "Well, I guess I could help..."

Sirius sat down in front of the couple. "Help him with what, his ego?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "None of your business."

Sirius's eyes suddenly grew wide. "Lily Evans, have you been sleeping with my best friend?" he accused.

He was standing and pointing his finger at Lily. She was lucky that not many students were in the Great Hall.

"Sirius Black, I have not been sleeping your best friend!" she said. Lily's face was terribly red and she saw that James was smiling.

"Sirius, calm your dirty mind," James said. Sirius sat back down and began to eat his food. Whispers were already heard in the Hall and Lily guessed that rumors were going to be started very soon about her and James's 'nightly activities'.

----

"So, you aren't sleeping with me?" The couple were walking towards the Head Dorms and people kept glancing in their direction.

"No, I said I wasn't sleeping with his best friend. He never even mentioned your name."

"Boy, I am sure glad that Sirius didn't yell that out during supper though, in front of the teachers and all," said James.

Lily laughed. "The professors would probably would set up some sort of security that we can't be alone together."

James laughed. "Now that wouldn't be very nice of them," he said, wrapping his arms around Lily.

He leaned his forehead against hers and looked into her green eyes. Lily stared at James's hazel eyes and smiled. She melted whenever she saw those eye, full of love and concern. She gave him a small kiss on the nose.

"I have to go to the library," she said, when James tried to pull her into the Head Dorms.

James sighed. "Why can't you stay with me?" he begged, acting like a 5 year old. He got down on his knees and put on a pout.

Lily smiled. How could she say no to him? "And if I do stay, what is my reward?" she asked innocently.

James gave her a goofy smile. "Anything you want," he said.

Lily smiled. "Anything?"

James smiled. "Well, anything that involves you and me together."

A blush colored Lily's cheeks and she smiled. "Oh, I think that can be arranged."

James smiled and picked her up, bride-style. He brought her into their room and closed the door.

**Author's note: I know this chapter is short, but I promise to have a better next chapter. It will be long, I promise. So I might not update this story for a while, as I am going to try to come up with a masterpiece of a chapter. Please review and give me any ideas of things you want me to do.**

**A/N: Almost done re-typing!**


	19. Revelations: Writing on the wall

Chapter 19

"James, honey, wake up," said Lily, shaking James lightly.

"Um, mum, leave me sleep," muttered James.

"James Potter! I seriously hope you did not just call me your mother! That would be disturbing on far too many levels!"

James opened his eyes. "Yes, I quite agree. I would not snog my mother."

"I hope not!" she said, before kissing James lightly. "Now, we better get up, or we'll be late for class."

"But, I would love to just stay in bed with you all day," said James, grinning from ear to ear.

Lily smiled. "As much as I would love to too, don't you think it might be a little strange that neither the Head Girl nor the Head Boy arrived to any of their classes? They might come and investigate..." said Lily.

James smirked. "Worried about being caught," he bit her ear gently, "Lilykins?"

Lily swatted him away like a fly. "Get up or no love tonight.

James's eyes grew wide. "Well, if you have to be like that..."

Lily threw him a pillow.

"Hey!"

Lily giggled and got out of the bed. She grabbed her dressing gown and put it on. "I'll meet you in the Common Room in ten minutes," she said, smiling. She left the room and James sighed.

-----

"That James is too much," said Lily to herself, as she put on her uniform/robe. She smiled and thought of how her day would go great. Suddenly, her window burst open and a figure emerged from the fogginess of the morning. Thankfully, Lily was completely dressed. The figure stepped off the broom it was on.

"Sirius! What the hell are you doing?" screamed Lily.

But Sirius seemed not to be paying attention. He had this far away look on his face.

When Lily tried talking to him again, he turned and muttered, "Shut up, mudblood."

Lily gasped. That wasn't Sirius's voice. Lily screamed as Sirius came closer to her and punched her in the nose. Lily fell to the ground and Sirius began beating her.

"Mudblood! Whore! How dare you defile the blood of a pure magician! Even your company is a curse to him!"

James ran in and saw his best friend punching his girlfriend. Making a split-second choice, he tackled Sirius and the latter banged his head against Lily's bed..

"James, get off of him!" Lily screamed hysterically, seeing that Sirius was not moving..

James looked up and saw Lily was crying and bleeding from the nose. "Let's get you to Hospital Wing," James said.

Lily nodded. "And bring Sirius too. I think something was wrong with him," she said. James sighed and with a flick of his wand, an unconscious Sirius was being lifted off the ground.

----

"My dears! What happened?" asked Madam Pomfrey as James, Lily and the unconscious Sirius came into Hospital Wing.

"Long story," replied Lily. James put Sirius down on a bed and turned his attention to Lily.

"Put this to your nose, Miss Evans, and I'll get to you in a minute," said Madam Pomfrey. "Mr. Black looks like he needs more help."

Lily smiled, but she winced in pain. "I understand. Muggles call it triage."

"A bump on the head, but no concussion," said the nurse. "A simple healing spell will do. Now, will anyone please tell me how the bump got there?"

"He attacked Lily and I protected her," James said. "It doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't" said Madam Pomfrey. "I think maybe you and Miss Evans should take the day off to resolve this, once I check her nose.. Too many strange things have been going on." She brought Lily over to a bed and began to examine her. "Well, you are lucky. Your nose is not broken. It will be a bit tender, but that is it. It does not look like any of your other injuries are severe." Lily nodded. "I will report all of this to Professor Dumbledore."

Lily and James thanked Madam Pomfrey and returned to the Head's room.

----

"Well, James. You got your wish," said Lily, sighing sadly.

"Yeah, I guess I did. But it's not the way I hoped it would come true," James replied somberly. He put his head in his hands. "I beat up my best friend. I can't believe it!" he said.

Lily sat down next to him on the couch and rubbed his back. "James, you were defending me. Now come on, I'm starving. I didn't get to eat breakfast and I'm pretty sure we worked off a lot of calories last night," she said, trying to cheer James up.

He chuckled. "Fine, we'll go eat. Then I want to go make sure I didn't kill Sirius."

"Okay, come on. Let's go down to the kitchens."

-----

"James, Lily! Why were you lot not in class?" asked Remus, as James and Lily walked into the Griffendor common room.

"Well, we had a bit of a unwanted visitor this morning," said Lily.

Remus looked at them curiously. "Who?"

"Sirius," said James.

"Did I hear someone calling me?" asked Sirius, walking down from the dormitories.

Once down the stairs, he noticed James's glaring at him, and Lily's bruised face.

"Whoa, what the hell happened to you, Lily?" he asked.

James's face grew very red. "What do you mean what the hell happened? You're the one who did this to her!" yelled James.

Thankfully, everyone else had gone down to lunch.

"I didn't do anything to her!" retorted Sirius. James tackled Sirius to the ground and started to beat him, punching him anywhere he could.

"James, stop it!" screamed Lily.

Remus grabbed hold of James and Lily bent down to make sure Sirius was still conscious.

"James, what the hell?!" said Remus.

"He...hurt...my...Lily," gasped James, struggling against his friend's grasp.

"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, please come with me," said Professor McGonagall, who had just walked in. She looked curiously from James to Sirius, who was still on the floor and shook her head in disapproval. "I think Mr. Black should come along as well," she said.

The three teenagers nodded and Sirius scrambled to get up.

-----

"Professor Dumbledore told me all about your unwanted visitor this morning in your room, Miss Evans," said McGonagall. "He believes that this person is not who he appears to be and is responsible for the writing on your wall."

Lily nodded, taking in this new information. Why hadn't she thought of this earlier? Sirius never showed any signs of wanting to hurt Lily, or hating her relationship with James. And the far away look in Sirius's eyes. They seemed cold... Lily gasped.

"What?" asked James.

"It's...um... never mind," said Lily, shaking the idea away. "_No, it couldn't be,_" she thought.

The three students and the teacher walked into Hospital Wing. McGonagall brought them over to the bed in which James had dumped the unconscious Sirius. The curtains were pulled around the bed, and McGonnagall tugged them aside.

"My cousin Bella?" shouted Sirius.

"It makes sense now," Lily said. "When she was attacking me, she said that I was a Mudblood and that it was vulgar for James to deal with me. What she really meant is that it's vulgar for Sirius, a high-born Black, to deal with any of us. If she managed to hurt me, fine. If she didn't hurt me but she caused a rift between Sirius and the other Marauders, that would be even better. With his friends gone he might heal the breach with his relatives."

"But how did she look like me?" asked Sirius.

"There's something called Polyjuice Potion," said Madam Pomfrey, "that helps somebody disguise themselves as somebody else. Bella's friend Mr. Snape probably knew how to make one."

"Some body part of the disguised person, usually a hair, is required," continued McGonagall. She glared at Sirius' long, unkempt hair. "But given Mr. Black's grooming habits, I suppose loose hairs were not difficult to come by in the Black household."

"Um, yes," agreed Sirius. He seldom looked embarrassed, but a criticism from McGonagall could do that to anybody.

"She's coming to," said James.

"Um -- what happened?" said Bella vaguely. She looked around and started at the sight of her cousin standing next to James and Lily. Then she went vague again -- but Lily suspected the second spell was a trick.

"You tried to beat up Lily!" James accused. "That's her blood on your robe."

"What? When?"

"You don't remember? Where were you two hours ago?"

"I -- I don't know. I've been having blackouts all year."

"First I've heard about it," said Madam Pomfrey skeptically. "When did this begin?"

"Um -- a visit to Hogsmeade, saw this strange man -- oh, Merlin, he must have put an obedience spell on me!"

"Who do you think the man was?" asked McGonagall.

"Vol -- you know who. Who else would be that powerful?" asked Bella.

"She's lying," said Sirius. "Can't you check for a spell?"

"No, they're undetectable," said Madam Pomfrey.

"Veritaserum, then," said James. "See if she sticks to her story."

"It's not a simple as that," said McGonagall. "All wizards and witches, even students accused of criminal behaviour, have rights. Barring emergencies, we have to have to convince the Ministry of Magic that use of the serum is necessary." The elderly teacher sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Lily couldn't imagine what McGonagall was going through; having to accuse one of her own students of trying to kill another.

"Let it slide, then," said Lily. "At least we can put a specific anti-Bella spell on my room, and avoid any further intrusions, for whatever motive. And we can keep an eye on her. The threats are over."

"Let's give the girl some rest for now," said Pomfrey. "Obedience spells or no, she HAS had a bad knock on the head."

"And I'm glad I gave it to her," James muttered, too low for McGonagall to overhear.

Lily smiled and hugged James. "Calm down. I'm just glad that this is all over now," she said.

James held her close. "Me too," he said.

The adults drifted away from the hospital bed. Pomfrey glared at the student trio, who reluctantly pulled away as well. But on the way out the door, Lily took one last look back. Looking thoroughly aware, and glaring at Lily poisonously, Bella mouthed:

_"Someday I'll get even with the lot of you!"_

**Author's note: I'm trying really hard to finish this story and I'm sorry that the wait for this chapter was a while, but I got quite busy for some time. There is only one chapter to go (yay) and it will be posted probably in a week, 2 at the most. I want to thank all my readers and all my reviews, even if some of them were not as nice. Be nice on the flames please. I know to some of you my story was not the greatest, but it was the first one I started and I've been writing way better things now (See my other story 'Summer of Discoveries').**

**A/N 2: Almost done re-typing.**


	20. Endings

Chapter 20

"I'm so glad that we won't have to worry about Bella anymore," said Lily, sighing as she dropped herself on one of the sofas in the Head's dorm.

"I think we can all agree that we're glad that she was caught and wasn't able to follow through with her plans to destroy Lily and James," said Kay.

"Or take me back to live with her, which was worst of all," Sirius joked. "So, who wants to pig out on candies?" asked Sirius. Everyone laughed and agreed. He and Remus left to grab some things from the kitchen.

Peter was nowhere to be found.

---

Not many weeks were left for the NEWTs tests. 5th years, who were doing their OWLs, and 7th years were studying at every possible moment. The teachers decided not to give out homework. On the odd occasion, they would give out reviews to work on.

"Lily, I think it's time you put the book down," said James, taking a book out of Lily's hands and setting it down on the table.

"James, I need to study!" whined Lily.

"No, you need a good snog," he said. Lily rolled her eyes, but let James kiss her. Soon she forgot all about studying, and only concentrated on their kiss.

Lily pulled away, to find herself now sitting on the sofa with James. How she had got there, she did not know. She glanced back towards the desk she had been previously sitting in and bit her lip. She really should be studying... but James made her forget about it once more as he recaptured her lips.

"Okay, okay. James, stop. I need to study. You might be naturally clever about this stuff, but I need to study," persisted Lily. James gave her sad puppy dog eyes. Lily smiled. "I'll make it up to you later," she promised.

James stuck out his lip. "But, Lily!" he whined like a little kid.

"James, I'm sorry. Really, but I have to study," she said. He moved closer to Lily, trying to recapture her lips, but she pulled away. "But James, I have to study," she said, mocking his whining tone from before.

"Fine, I'll go get us some supper and you can study, but when we're done supper, you and I are having some quality snogging," replied James, getting up. He walked out of the Head's Dorm.

Lily sat back down, not able to get rid of the silly grin on her face. James was so sweet, but sometimes he annoyed her. She had to study. He was pure-blood and it probably was easy for him. Lily picked up her charms book and smiled wider. He was no good at charms. Well, okay, he was good, but not as good as she. She grinned evilly and thought of a plan to get revenge.

"Lily! Supper!" sing-songed James, coming back into the Head's dorm. Lily had wanted to stay in the dorm, to do nothing but study.

"James, have you studied for Charms?" she asked.

James's eyes grew wide. "Oh no!" he moaned.

"Well, sit and we'll study together," she said. James put the tray containing their supper on the desk and sat next to her.

"Here, these are my notes. I'm guessing you never took them because you were to busy causing havoc or staring at me," stated Lily. James blushed a little bit, but said nothing. She was right.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Lily laughed.

They ate their supper, some chicken sandwiches, and studied together.

----

The following week was the beginning of the NEWTs and OWLs testings. The 7th years would be tested after lunch on Charms and Potions, which happened to be two of Lily's favorite subjects. One can only have so much history of goblins and such.

For Lily, the time seemed to fly by as she scribbled away at the test, but for James, time seemed to be standing still. Even if Lily was a few seats away, he could still see her fiery red hair, which distracted him to no end.

"So, Alice, how do you think you did?" asked Kay, as she, Alice and Lily relaxed by the lake.

"Fine, but I was so nervous. I didn't think I studied enough. Frank kept trying to get me to relax, but it wasn't working," Alice replied.

Lily smiled and thought back to the nights of the week before.. James was trying to get her to relax, and it ended up stressing them both out. But, at least they both got a snog out of it. Lily's smile grew bigger as she remembered the heated kiss on the sofa.

"Lily, earth to Lily!" said Alice, waving her hands in front of Lily's face. Lily snapped out of her trance and looked at her friends.

"What?" she asked.

"Alice asked you if you got any last minute studying done last night," said Kay.

Lily giggled. "Some," she replied.

"Oh, you and lover boy were at it, weren't you!" exclaimed Kay.

Alice giggled. "Kay! It's Lily's life... but were you?" she asked, clearly as nosy as her friend.

Lily smiled. "Maybe," she replied.

"Oh! You were!" accused Kay.

----

"Mate, you seemed so distracted at the test. I bet you five galleons that the cause of the distraction was a certain red-head whom you are head over heels in love with, right?" asked Sirius, as he, James, Peter and Remus stuffed their faces in the kitchen.

"Who's that? I thought James loved Lily?" asked Peter, totally clueless. Remus, Sirius and James rolled their eyes. If it weren't for them, Peter would probably still be a 3rd year.

"I was talking about James's secret girlfriend, of course I meant Lily!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Well, you're right," said James.

"Five galleons please!" said Sirius, happily.

"I never bet on anything with you Padfoot," James pointed out.

-----

"So, James, what are you going to do with Lily after school is done?" asked Remus.

"Yeah James, what are you going to do with her?" asked Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows provocatively.

"Well, I was going to maybe ask her to move into my flat, and hopefully maybe marry me," answered James, shrugging.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought you and I were going to live in a flat together and hit all the clubs around to pick up chicks!" said Sirius.

"We thought of that in our 5th year Sirius! Things have changed. I love Lily," said James.

"James is right, Padfoot. You guys thought of it 2 years ago. You said that because you thought that James was going to get over Lily. You never thought she'd say yes," Remus reminded his friend.

"Your right. How about I can live with you and Lily... oh wait. I don't want to hear you guys go at it. Hum... I'll just live with Mooney, how about that?" asked Sirius.

James looked at his friend in disgust, while Remus looked completely frightened. "You are never, and I repeat never, living with me in my flat. Kay's going to be living there with me," he said. "Plus, I've lived with you for 7 years and know just how messy you can be."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll buy my own flat and I won't invite any of you!" he said.

"You'll be mighty lonely," stated James.

Sirius sighed. "You're right."

----

The students had tests everyday that week, and were completely exhausted on Friday. They decided to unwind in the Common Room. The younger Griffindors were very nice to leave it to the OWL and NEWT survivors. The group talked about their fondest memories. Lily even admitted that she liked all the different ways James tried to get her to go out with him.

"I thought you hated that!" exclaimed James.

Lily blushed. "I was actually quite flattered. The only thing keeping me from saying yes was that you would find someone else to go with anyway and snog them in my face, as if to rub it in. If you hasn't gone with anyone one of the times I rejected you, maybe you would have had a chance earlier," she said.

"Well, now, I guess I'll have to kill Sirius. He's the one you made me do it. He kept telling me that if I went with someone, you'd get jealous, and agree to go with me," James said. He turned to his friend. "I will get you," he warned. Sirius looked scared for a moment but relaxed when James burst out laughing.

The next week of NEWTs past by very quickly. Most students were very stressed out. Lily was one of them.

"Lily, relax! One day left!" said James, sitting down next to Lily on the sofa, who was still studying and drinking her 4th coffee.

"James, this is the most important testing. And we've already had this argument!" said Lily. James sighed. He moved behind Lily and began to message her back.

"Hum...James...hum...I...need..." started Lily, but the rest of the words couldn't come out of her mouth. James was doing an excellent job at making her relaxed. He began kissing her neck, working his way down to the edge of her shirt. He turned her around and began to kiss her fully on the lips. She mumbled something about studying, but quickly returned his kiss, forgetting once more about her books.

The next week of NEWTs past by in a blur and before the students knew, Graduation had snuck up on them.

On the day of Graduation, James had something special planned for Lily.

"Lily, since it's our last night at this school, I have something planned, just you and me," said James, as Lily packed most of her school things away.

"What do you have planned?" she asked, raising her eyebrow in suspicion.

James just smiled. "You'll see," he said slyly.

At around 10 o'clock, after the two had done their rounds, James told Lily to close her eyes.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because, I don't want you to see my surprise," he told her. Lily rolled her eyes but closed them.

James put his hands over her eyes and steered her down towards the Great Hall. He opened the door and continued to steer Lily outside. He took her towards a secluded part of the forest, that was near the lake.

He uncovered her eyes, and Lily opened her eyes. She gasped at the beautiful scene before her. A blanket was laid on the grass. The moon was reflecting off the lake. They were in a secluded place in the forest. The castle was far away, yet it looked absolutely stunning. Lily was breath-taken by the beautiful sight.

"Oh James. This is absolutely beautiful!" Lily exclaimed. James smiled.

"Just like you," he said. Lily blushed and James laughed. "Lily, I would have thought that by now, you wouldn't blush anymore when I call you beautiful," he told her.

Lily smiled. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you James," she said, before kissing him.

They sat down and James gave Lily a rose. She smiled and smelt it. A picnic basket magically appeared before them, containing all of Lily and James's favorite goodies. They ate and talked about many things.

-----

The teary-eyed 7th year students said good-bye to the castle, the teachers, the painting, the ghost and, to those who knew them, the house elves. No one wanted to leave the castle behind. So many fond memories were made here.

There was just one ritual left: the big graduation bash in Hogsmeade.

**----------------------------------------------**

**Author's note: Another chapter is coming! **


	21. Beginnings

Chapter 20

It was traditional for the graduating class to have their last big bash at the tavern in Hogsmeade, rather than the grand hall at Hogwarts. Maybe it was to symbolize that they were leaving the school behind. Or maybe it was a practical reason: the celebrators could really cut loose and have fun without looking stupid in front of the professors and young classmates.

"Last week-end of Hogsmeade," said Kay, walking next to Lily..

"I know," said Lily, James's arm was around her waist.

"It sucks doesn't it? Next week's our last week at this school, as students," said Alice..

Sirius sighed. "I hope that maybe one day we can come back, maybe if our children come to this school. I'm sure that James's children will be exactly like him, a trouble maker and good looking, but they will have Evans's mind, and eyes," stated Sirius.

Lily and James burst out laughing.

"What?" asked Sirius, a confused look on his features.

"It's just funny that you're already predicting our children," said Lily. James nodded.

"Whatever," Sirius stated. "What do you plan to do after leaving, Kay?"

"I think I'll go back to the Islands, and study Vodun -- what people usually miscall "voodoo". I want to see how it links up with traditional magic."

"And you, Alice?"

"I'm going with Frank to visit his mother. She's a very formidable woman, they say, but Frank is sure that she'll approve of us getting together."

"Aren't you already together?"

Before Alice could answer, they could hear Remus bellowing out a song.

_Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble,_

_Fire burn, and cauldron bubble--_

"Sounds like Remus has had too much to drink," said James. "Maybe we should take him home before he starts casting spells on everything.

Lily was confused: Remus had always struck as the most self-controlled of the four boys. And she was even more puzzled when James, Peter, and Sirius all followed him to the door. "Do all three of you need to go?"

A pause. "It wouldn't be fair for some of us to have fun here while others are stuck with Remus," said Peter.

Lily thought that a very stupid remark, even for Peter. Then she saw the full moon through the door and realized: this was the Marauders' monthly meeting, and apparently it was so important that they were willing to skip the final party, and James was ready to walk out on Lily. It's possible that Remus wasn't even drunk, just faking it as an excuse for the four to leave.

Suddenly all the fun went out of the party for Lily. She sat in a corner, drinking more butterbeers than she was used to handling. At the other side of the room, the Slytherins were celebrating. Lucius Malfoy had apparently agreed to marry Narcissa Black. Lily felt very on the outside looking in.

"That's funny," Kay said.

"What?"

"I was outside coming back from the sweets store, and I saw the Marauders in the distance. But they weren't going back to school. They were going toward the Shrieking Shack."

"So James can't even tell me the truth about his slipping out, the jerk," muttered Lily. "Do you know what I'm going to do?"

"What?" asked Kay and Alice.

"I'm going to wait an hour until they're all confident and private, and then I'm going to the Shrieking Shack myself. Finally find out what they're doing, and maybe solve the mystery of the Shack for once and for all!"

--------

Lily was feeling much less confident as she approached the door to the shack. There was no light on inside, not even enough to match the full moon outside. She muttered a Lumos spell and let her wand light the way.

The door let her into a large room that might have been a decent drawing room several centuries earlier. Now it had a few pieces of rickety furniture. Surprisingly, four wands were sitting on a chair. What wizard would leave his wand behind in a place like this?

To her left was a door with several locks. It looked forbidden, so of course that's where Lily decided to go. The locks themselves weren't a problem of course -- one _Alohamora_ spell took care of all of them.

Beyond was a dark hallway. She tiptoed in, still seeing no sign of the boys. There was an unpleasant smell to this wing, too, the excrement of some animal. But Lily kept on to the end of the corridor and _alohamora_'ed the final door open. But all she found was a dismal, windowless room.

"Aaaaaooooooh!"

The sound filled Lily with dread. Suddenly she had no curiosity about what went on the shack, she just wanted to leave.

A huge dog -- no, a wolf -- trotted into the room. Its eyes locked on Lily, and it growled. There was something utterly vicious about the eyes. Rabid, maybe. If it didn't tear her apart, she could still die within a month of a horrid disease. And she had no defense but a wand.

It sprang, and Lily dodged. The wolf hit the wall behind her and seemed confused for a moment by her failure to be there, Lily dashed to the door of the room, but realized this was little hope in running. The beast would be faster.

Thinking desperately, Lily remembered that there was a spell that could kill anything. Its use on humans was utterly taboo, and would get you sent to Azkaban for life, but who would blame her for using it on a savage beast that was threatening her life?. The spell required powerful emotion behind it, but she was terrified enough to make it work. _"Av-v-v"_. She stopped and tried to halt the stammering. She had to say it clearly for it to work_. "Avada K--"_

_"Expelliarmus!" _shouted James voice behind her

Her wand flew out of her hand. Now she was utterly defenseless against the wolf. James was here, yet he had condemned her to death! Why?

A large black dog bounded through the door and hurled itself against the wolf. "Run, Lily!" cried James' voice, then, incredibly, a beautiful stag trotted into the room. Lowering its head to use its antlers as a weapon, it too charged the wolf. And as a bizarre anticlimax, a little mouse scuttered by and seemed determined to join the fray.

Lily dashed through the halls, and through the heavy door. She slammed it shut and was relieved when all the locks automatically reasserted themselves. The sensible thing now would be to flee the Shrieking Shack and never come back. But James and the others might starve if they could not come out through the door, and besides, her curiosity would not allow her to abandon the mystery. Besides, a wizard was trained never to leave her wand behind. It was matched to her personality and no replacement wand ever worked as well.

The growling and howling noises stopped, then James' voice called. "Lily, will you let us out? The wolf is safely confined now."

"I ought to let you lot stew in there for a while. But-- _Alohamora_!" .The door unlocked itself.

James came in first, followed by Sirius carrying a near-unconscious Peter. All were bruised and even bleeding. Sirius put Peter on one of the old sofas and seemed to be performing healing spells. James sheepishly held out a stick. "Your wand--"

"Thanks awfully," she said bitterly.

"I -- I know that this is hard to explain, and that you'll never forgive us. But--"

Lily took a deep breath. "No, I think I've figured it out. You're all Animagi, even the wolf. You kept me from killing the wolf because it would have been killing a human being." She looked around. "By process of elimination, I presume the wolf is Remus."

"Yes. It's not his fault. He was bitten by a werewolf years ago and will be cursed with the effects for the rest of his life. The best we could do as his friends was to stand by him when the moon was full, and keep his secret to protect him from discrimination. That's why we became Marauders. But you can't be expected to accept all that--"

"Yes, I can. Make me a Marauder. Whatever oath you have, I'll swear it." Lily promised.

"We can't," said Sirius. "We made a rule that girls can't be Marauders. It looks silly now, I know, but it was written into the Oath, and it would take somebody powerful like Dumbledore to unravel it. And I'd be rather embarrassed to explain all this to him."

"Maybe we can amend the Oath. Say that Marauder's wives automatically become members of the group."

"Wives?!" squeaked Peter.

James went down on a knee. Lily thought he was clowning at first, but a look at his face convinced her that he was in earnest. "Miss Evans, I have thought for a long time that you were the embodiment of all the virtues, but tonight you showed the greatest virtue of all: forgiveness when we accidentally risked your life. I may not be worthy at the moment, but will you take me for your husband?"

"You can't propose here!" Sirius protested. "The dust, the blood, the shabbiness-- do you want to remember it this way years from now?" For once the wise-cracking cynic of love seemed to show his sentimental streak.

"No, James is right," Lily said. "Love isn't just kisses and sweet words and making love in a comfortable bed. It's for better _or for worse_, being able to bear hardship together, maybe having to sacrifice yourself for the person you love. But even if fate was staring me in the face, I'd do it. I'll marry you, James."

And Peter stared as they embraced.

FIN

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**Author's note: This chapter is actually a new chapter, written about a year after I had finished the story... or thought I had finished it. But, I can't talk all the credit, because it was my beta, CharlesTheBold, that wrote the chapter, asking my opinion on it first. I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this story! And now, it is actually done!**


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